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Kitty April 14th, 2023
From Aaron Sorkin's re-imagining of Lerner and Lowe's musical theatre classic Camelot to smalltown high jinks in Shucked to James Ijames Pulitzer Prize-winning Hamlet adaptation Fat Ham, there was plenty of diversity in the week's big openings, but how were they received.
Let's start with Camelot. A classic musical from 1960 that last saw a revival on Broadway in 1980, many were anticipating good things from the Lincoln Center's newest re-imagining, following director Bartlet Sherr's successes with The King and I and My Fair Lady. However it looks like the legend of King Arthur's court may have been too much. The New York Times led the charge with their less-than-positive review, asking:
"Why are you reviving "Camelot" if not just to cash in on an audience expecting something completely different? Sure, gorgeous songs like "If Ever I Would Leave You" and "I Loved You Once in Silence" are there, and technically well sung with the underpinning of Lincoln Center's typically fine orchestra, but they are shorn of belief because the production keeps running scared of love."
Deadline went neutral, summing up the views of most the rest of the press:
"If the acting is a shade less satisfying than the singing, it's mostly the result of the production's overall conception a conception that isn't unjustifiable, just more swing and a miss."
If magic couldn't be found at the Vivian Beaumont theatre, there was plenty over at the Nederlander, where corny new musical Shucked has its opening last week. As small-town tale about, you guessed it, corn, it had a big buzz in previews, which largely translated to a cobb of great reviews;
Broadway News set the tone, enthusing:
"The riotous new work, with a book by Robert Horn, nabs acoustic inspiration from country music and tonal humor from shows like "The Book of Mormon" and "Tootsie" (the latter of which Horn adapted for stage) to form a delirious production that treats a seasonal crop corn more like the second coming."
The Daily Beast agreed:
"The pleasure of watching Shucked is not only that it's very funny, it is also a musical comedy comfortable in its merry skin, thanks to Jack O'Brien's equally mischievous direction, full of stop-starts, playing to the audience, and letting the jokes and reaction to the jokes breezily pace the show."
From merry jokes about vegetables to James Ijames 'deliciously funny' Fat Ham, (a phrase that is not often associated with Hamlet adaptations), it looks like the Pulitzer Prize-winning comedy was also a hit with the critics, finally giving The New York Times something to enjoy with its unexpected ending:
"That "Fat Ham" achieves its happy, even joyful, ending honestly, without denying the weight of forces that make "Hamlet" feel just as honest, is a sign of how capacious and original the writing is, growing the skin of its own necessity instead of merely burrowing into Shakespeare's. It's also a sign of how beautifully the cast brings the writing to life."
Variety added to the praise:
"The funniest and most invigorating new show on Broadway...Winner of the 2022 Pulitzer Prize, "Fat Ham" recasts its source material to imagine what Shakespeare did not how people might overcome circumstances, expectations and their own demons to forge new paths through life."
Have you seen any of this week's big shows? Let us know by leaving a review on our showpages.
A hilarious and audacious farm-to-fable musical about the one thing Americans everywhere can't get enough of: corn.
