The lead of this show is the reason to go and see it. Unfortunately, the voices were not stroing enough to support the no-microphone decision. The person who played Charley was not a strong actor, and the woman who played Gussie seemed like she had transferred from the high school production. The chorus was unbelievable in the charaterizations. Overall, it was Mary and Frank who saved this show at the end. The theatre space is gorgeous and the staff very friendly.

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Let me start off with what I didn't like as that is a very short list:

1. Frank Jr. singing Merrilly We Roll Along's final reprise aka the Seventh Transition - Now the musical was reworked since the OBC and I don't have the '94 version, so I can't be certain how they did it in '94. But putting aside my issue with cringe-ingly unreliable young male voices singing, I felt that this was very jarring as it made the already odd time line a touch more confusing at a point where it really didn't need to be.
2. Beth's "Not a Day Goes By" - I'm sorry, there are a number of ways that this song can be interpreted, I can think of at least two: with the final three repetitions of "not a day goes by" in a crescendo of frustration or in a decrescendo of resignation. No artistic interpretation I can think of justifies singing all three in exactly the same flat tone. While technically proficient, it was emotionless, a gaping void. Which is surprising because the actress was quite good throughout the rest of the show.
3. The Follow Spot Operator's errors in the Act II opening number -Now normally, as a techie mostly, I'm of the bent that the actor needs to find the light in the event of an error. In this case, however, as the actress was descending the staircase and it would have looked foolish for her to retrace her steps back up, I totally blame the follow spot operator.

That being said, there was much to enjoy about this production, starting with Will Gartshore as Frank - who is not only exceedingly attractive but manages to rock the intensely houndstooth-ed suit in the first act. Will's singing was wonderful the entire evening, technically good and emotionally imbued (see above re: Beth's NADGB). Frank is a character that can be difficult to love (though the reverse chronology of the play aids in getting to know him better), but Will managed to make him relatable from the get go.

Tracy Lynn Olivera as Beth also was a standout. While her singing had a tendency to be overshadowed by the orchestra (as the singing is all unassisted), if volume is the only fault you can find, I consider myself thankful. And her comic timing the rest of the show was always spot on. Erik Liberman's Charley was somewhat more uneven. Thankfully his moment to shine, in "Franklin Shepard, Inc." was well executed.

The set was wonderfully minimalistic while also reinforcing the chronological aspects of the show --the round stage with the grand piano evoking a clock face, and the spiral staircase coupled with the lighting ring and stage powerfully suggesting an hourglass. All without seeming "precious" or "obvious."

And this is going to sound odd, the best part of the evening was the costume design. By far this was one of the greatest costume designs I've ever seen. Given the decades spanning nature of this show, there's the opportunity to go a touch overboard. Instead, the Ensemble was dressed in varying shades of blue in styles that are timelessly dated, which I know sounds oxymoronic, but the styles are definitively not of this era, yet not of any specific past era - evocations of the 70s, 60s, and 50s but nothing concrete like a go-go skirt, or a leisure suit. Each of the main characters (Frank, Charley, Mary, Beth and Gussie) had a signature style/color with only Joe's costume never changing. The wonderful subtlety of the costume design comes in the progression of these costumes between the first and second acts... Mary's blood red frock from the first act, becomes a red skirt with a white jacket with red accents at the beginning of the second act and fades into a white shirt and pale pants with red pumps for the finale, perfectly chronicling her journey from reckless spite backwards to her original innocence. Beth's white and pink outfits manage to portray matronly frostiness in the first act and maidenly sweetness in the second. Charley's mustard tweed and Frank's grey tweed second act suits metamorphose into (or I suppose devolve from) the first act's bold plaid and the aforementioned black and white houndstooth (seriously my mother had a couch that could have been covered with the material of the suit) patterned suits. The key being "patterns" which is a common thread throughout the show. I'm not doing the design justice with this description, but it was one of the best costume designs, including Broadway shows, that I've seen.

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The theatre is a very intimate space. The play had some thematic problems that were mostly overcome by the energy and direction on stage. My only real complaint is that the singers were sometimes hard to hear with no amplification.

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Great show and terrific cast!

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