Two-time Tony Award winner Sutton Foster (Anything Goes, Thoroughly Modern Millie) returns to Roundabout in the highly anticipated Broadway debut of Violet, following the acclaimed concert performance at City Center Encores! Off-Center. Winner of the Drama Critics' Circle Award and Lucille Lortel Award for Best Musical when it premiered Off-Broadway, Violet features music by Tony nominee Jeanine Tesori (Caroline, or Change, Fun Home) and book and lyrics by Brian Crawley (A Little Princess). Leigh Silverman (Chinglish, Well) directs.
Much of 'Violet' takes places on a bus, which lends itself to a minimalist staging with just a few chairs. The flashbacks should be simple, too. But once Violet and her GIs exit the bus, this production (which is designed by David Zinn) can't decide how (or whether) to build on its initial, simple style. The set expands and contracts. Some of the onstage musicians don robes and join a gospel choir. But you never really feel the pull of place, or of a lost time, nor the comforts of a well-defined imagined world. Foster throws herself into this unglamorous role, her face pale and her body propelled into a world of no self-confidence. It is a very honorable performance, filled with craft. Foster never condescends, and she clearly enjoys her character's intelligence, although she, too, struggles toward the end with the need for climax and consequence.
While there are no miracles of biblical proportions, Violet ends with emotional cleansing, self-realization and hopefulness...Sutton Foster is that rare above-the-title Broadway star who can match polished musical theatre craft with an approachable everywoman quality. As Violet, she mixes her character's devout trust in the Lord with a protective shell of distrust built from twelve years of blaming her dad for both her initial injury and how he handled its aftermath and from dealing with the repulsed and cruel treatment she's received from others for half her life. It was the best acting performance of her New York career...Violet is a small musical of big ideas. Its spectacle comes in its writing and in the opportunity for singing actors to play intriguing characters. This production is not to be missed.
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