Coerced and pressured by my fellow theatre junkies to see this show, I went to it begrudgingly (I won the lottery — a great deal on their website) as I felt it was just the kind of show that tends to bore me on Broadway. The sweet pretty show that is easily forgettable because I am left unmoved emotionally, much like An American in Paris. Sorry to say, Loren. Give me a Fun Home, a Next to Normal, a Sondheim show, or a Spring Awakening any day over a beautiful show such as what I imagined I was walking into last week. And I can’t say I was entirely wrong.
It’s a beautifully done show. Gorgeously presented and performed (although I thought the set to be sometimes beautiful and sometimes cluttered and crowded). It’s like a festive glass of bubbly that tickles our throat and goes straight to our head. Vanessa Hudgens sings and looks charming and beautiful, although I found her character slightly annoying and petulant. The stand-outs to me are Corey Cott, who has a great lovely presence onstage beyond his fantastic voice and good looks, and the phenomenal Victoria Clark, who does no wrong in my eyes, even in lesser material such as this and the sweet pretty Cinderella. Her one big number, “Say a Prayer,” is the one moment in this show that I was transported.
This show is a great big bottle of bubbly, but for me, it’s not the same champagne that they devote a whole song to, but more like sparkling wine, not the cheapest but not the best either. It goes down happily, thoroughly enjoyable, but later, we reflect that it had a bit too much sugar and gave us a bit of a headache.
front mezz junkies 
Gigi is one of those classic experiences that gives you a sense of what audiences of old wanted out of their musical theater. I think our theater taste has evolved, but Lerner & Loewe’s score is captivating–songs like Gaston’s Soliloquy, Gigi, Say a Prayer, Thank Heaven, and It’s a Bore. It’s the jaunty, upbeat happiness in this show that attracts me. There’s definitely a place in theater for pure joyous entertainment like this. And Corey Cott is simply perfect as the young leading man. I loved this production. One of my favorites this season.
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[…] Only later, when there is a pause, when the handsome and incredibly talented, Corey Cott (Newsies, Gigi) is allowed to be still just for a moment, just him and the piano, are we allowed to engage. Cott, […]
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[…] Danny Burstein, and Elaine Paige revival back in 2011 directed beautifully by Eric Schaeffer (Gigi) not to mention the 2000 revival that starred Blythe Danner, Judith Ivey, Treat Williams, and Polly […]
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[…] Lane (the 1940 Hold On to Your Hats)and a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner (Brigadoon, Gigi) that was based loosely on the play Berkeley Square, written in 1929 by John L. Balderston. On […]
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[…] Marija Juliette Abney (Colleen), Carleigh Bettiol (Bridget), Taurean Everett, Michael Fatica, Ashley Blair Fitzgerald, Michael Fraceffa, Blaine Alden Krauss, Sam Lips, Tiana Okoye, Amy Quanbeck, Angle Reda, Jennifer […]
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[…] to see an old fashioned musical. Under the rich musical direction of James Moore (Broadway’s Gigi, On The Town) leading the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, Mueller delivers another gorgeous […]
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[…] to see an old-fashioned musical. Under the rich musical direction of James Moore (Broadway’s Gigi, On The Town) leading the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, Mueller delivers another gorgeous […]
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[…] or inches away from doing so to the beat of music director, Greg Jarrett’s (Broadway’s Gigi) solid structuring, but sadly, the dancer’s legs never did take that one step forward. […]
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[…] ease leaving us wanting more of the Sondheim magic. Music director, James Moore (Broadway’s Gigi) and music coordinator, Seymour Red Press (Broadway’s King Lear) bring this musical defiantly […]
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[…] Later during a pause in the dramatics, the handsome and incredibly talented, Corey Cott (Newsies, Gigi) is allowed to be still, just him and the piano. And it that moment, we find ourselves able to […]
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[…] these high school hallways, with Kimberly, miraculously played by Victoria Clark (Broadway’s Gigi; The Light in the Piazza), chewing on her candied necklace. Sitting in a state of perpetual […]
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[…] Reverend Givens and his wife, played well within the confines by Howard McGillin (Broadway’s Gigi) and Tracy Shayne (TNG’s The True), But her brother, Ashby Givens, deviously portrayed by […]
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[…] with Kimberly, miraculously played by the incredibly convincing Victoria Clark (Broadway’s Gigi; The Light in the Piazza), chewing on her candied necklace, sitting in a state of perpetual […]
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[…] and in the cast presentation, particularly the incredibly convincing Victoria Clark (Broadway’s Gigi; The Light in the Piazza), alongside all her costars, make this a must-see in my books, and […]
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[…] this trial would go in front of the complicit Judge Roan, portrayed by McGillin (Broadway’s Gigi), and as we sit and watch Act One swing its way horrifically toward the verdict, we cannot help but […]
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[…] by Frederick Loewe (music) and Alan Jay Lerner (Lyrics) the duo that also gave us Brigadoon and Gigi, where there once was romance and longing. Now, even with the luscious music direction by Kimberly […]
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