I've been waiting a very long time to see this show. Every girl at my college sang songs from this show because it is super charming, lesser known than the Rogers and Hammerstein shows, and it made Barbara Cook into a legend and household name. I took Aaron and had to convince him by saying that it is the story that You've Got Mail is based on (not a lie).
The sets were gorgeous and the orchestra was great. I hated how everyone was talking during the overture in the audience....hey people, I paid to hear the music, not you. It's set in 1930's Budapest, but all the actors and characters are white which I found silly to be even be in Budapest then. But they wrote it in the 50's.
I was most excited to see Laura Benanti perform on the stage. She's broadway royalty at this point for me. She was costarred by Zachary Levi, the voice of Flynn Rider, and also the lead in First Date (maybe he shouldn't mention that). They had good chemistry. Though Aaron nudged me in the middle of act 2 to tell me that she was outshining him (DUH) He was very lax and almost didn't appear to give a damn until his epiphany song "She Loves Me". Laura totally commanded every moment she was on stage.
Other noteworthy performances were by Jane Krakowski whom which I've never seen live, but adored. She was playing Ilona, the role I'd want to play. Her romantic lead was played by Gavin Creel whom I first saw in Thoroughly Modern Millie playing Jimmy.....he won a tony for that, and that was over 13 years ago! It was amazing to see him doing his thing on stage again! Also, the costuming was DROOL WORTHY! Not only was the female costuming divine, the mens' belt backed jackets and suits were insane!
The weak link in the cast was Mr. Levi, but he wasn't bad. He was just outshined by all his costars.
We had decent seats (thanks to hip tix) but unfortunately, there was a GIANT sitting in front of us, making it so Aaron couldn't see half the stage all at once. We sat house left in row M. I'd see it again.
