Wicked; A nearly-great new musical

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 11/2/03 at 9:22pm

This weekend I saw a nearly-great new musical.

I also saw "Wicked."

But the nearly-great new musical I saw was "Caroline, Or Change," at The Public Theater. With book and lyrics by the brilliant Tony Kushner, music by Jeanine Tesori, directed by George Wolfe. This is an incredibly nuanced, nearly sung-through exploration of two Louisiana families in 1962-3. I'm surprised this hasn't even seemed to register on the radar of all the Millie freaks, and even more surprised that Tesori had it in her. Actually, I'm not surprised that nobody notices well-honed stories and a uniformly talented cast telling a beautiful story that makes theatrical and logical sense. I mean, it doesn't have Sutton in it!

And of course, so many people are always so busy creaming over the Broadway bloat up town and reinforcing their enthusiasm by seeing the same shows multiple times.

If anybody cares to talk about quality theater, I'll have more to say later when I am more awake, I'm sure. If not, that's fine. Carry on as usual.

Updated On: 11/2/03 at 09:22 PM

[robbiej]

Posted: 11/3/03 at 11:13am

Namo,

Please tell more about Caroline! I've been on the fence about seeing it as Xmas is coming and I'm gonna be spending some change this year!

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 11/3/03 at 11:20am

When I have a free moment, I'll get into why I loved "Caroline, Or Change", but I felt the same level of enthusiasm as you wrote about in your post about The Violet Hour, which I loved reading.

I was sort of out of the loop and didn't even realize they were planning on opening "Caroline" for an extended run, so maybe you can get ticks for after the holidays. But it was the best $60 I spent all weekend. I can only imagine it will get tighter and even better by opening. And it's Tony Kushner, and he's just as smart as ever.

More later, I promise.