Broadway Review: ‘The Visit’ Starring Chita Rivera
8 / 10
The show is more literary piece than conventional musical. But it has a dark, sinister beauty -- and who could resist a visit from Chita?...And what a commanding figure she strikes...Like the play, McNally's musical treatment of the central dilemma doesn't add much tension to what seems a foregone conclusion. And, like the play, it begins well and ends well, but sags in the middle. The real problem, it seems, is the inadequacy of Anton's soul-searching about his own guilt. Rees looks very much like someone who's going through hell, and he expresses it well in 'Fear.' But this morally shabby character hasn't got an ethical leg to stand on. Kander just can't help himself. Even in what may well be his darkest work, he writes beautiful romantic melodies.

