Review Roundup: Broadway-Bound THE FIRST WIVES CLUB Opens in Chicago

The premiere of the new Broadway-bound musical First Wives Club opened last night, March 11, 2015 at the Oriental Theatre (24 West Randolph St.) and runs through March 29, 2015. Sean Cullen, Mike McGowan, and Tony Award-nominee Gregg Edelman go head-to-head with Tony Award-winnerFaith Prince as 'Brenda,' Wicked star Carmen Cusack as 'Annie,' and Mamma Mia's Christine Sherrill as 'Elise,' as "First Husbands" 'Morty,' 'Bill,' and 'Aaron,' respectively, in the new musical.

With a book by five-time Emmy Award nominee Linda Bloodworth Thomason and direction by Simon Phillips, First Wives Club: The Musical features new original songs and classic hits by Motown legends Holland-Dozier-Holland, including "Reach Out...I'll Be There," "Stop! In the Name of Love" and "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)."

In First Wives Club, three former college friends reunite to find that they have more in common than their alma mater! Ditched by their respective husbands for younger women, they band together to settle scores with the men who did them wrong. First Wives Club is a hilarious, inspiring, and empowering story about friendship at its strongest... and revenge at its sweetest.

Let's see what the critics had to say...

Misha Davenport, BroadwayWorld: At the comedic helm is Tony-award winning Faith Prince as Brenda Cushman. It's a comedic triumph for Prince; her Brenda has just the right amount self-depricating humor, anger and heart. She is particularly effective in a scene where Brenda has to force an "I love you, too" out of her teenaged son. It isn't just out of a sense of motherly need; her character is at rock bottom. Her appliance store-owning husband has traded her for a new model and her son's love is something she is desperately clinging to in an effort to keep it together.

Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune: There are a few decent, and richly orchestrated, new songs (I'd either nix the standards or celebrate their original context more), including "Whirlpool of Emotions" (sung by Cusack) and "My Heart Wants to Try One More Time" (sung by the ever-authentic Prince), but it's weird to mix these numbers with such famous predecessors, which take you out of the show every time they show up.

Steven Oxman, Variety: The new production of "First Wives Club" that just opened at Chicago's Oriental Theater marks the second attempt to launch a Broadway-bound musical version of Paramount's 1996 revenge comedy. A new director and cast have come aboard after the show's 2009 tryout in San Diego, and the book has been re-written by Linda Bloodworth-Thomason of "Designing Women." Meanwhile, songwriters Brian and Eddie Holland have reached back into their own famed Motown catalog to insert brief versions of "Stop in the Name of Love" and "Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)." The combination of '90s sitcom zingers and '60s Motown sound makes for an odd juxtaposition, and while the show bursts briefly into life in the second act, it's primarily a piece of theatrical plastic.

Kris Vire, TimeOut Chicago: You might think you'd want to join any club that would have Faith Prince, Christine Sherrill and Carmen Cusack as members. The three divine leads of the Broadway-aimed new musical First Wives Club, based on the 1992 novel by Olivia Goldsmith and the much-adored 1996 film, make a trio as unfairly talented and charismatic as those they echo from the movie (Bette Midler, Goldie Hawn and Diane Keaton, respectively). But in its current incarnation, First Wives Club isn't yet ready to accept your dues.

Alan Bresloff, Around the Town Chicago: Our three ladies are solid in voice and character development and none of them attempt to be the characters that were brought forth in the movie version. While I enjoyed the film with Middler, Hawn and Keaton, I found these three women to be absolutely perfect. Faith Prince has great comic timing, Carmen Cusack , a flair for the comedy as well and Christine Sherrill, is as always divine. The other women in their husband's lives are: the very funny Morgan Weed, the sexy Lindsey Alley and the adorable Alison Woods- all shining examples of the old saying, "there are no small parts". They make the pieces fit.

Photo Credit: DJ Pierce

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