Tracy Turnblad – Cougar
Garrett Clayton sang and danced the role great. But can we please get back to the archetype set by the unsurpassed Matthew Morrison, Broadway‘s original Link? Now, THAT was sex on a stick! And whose bright idea was it to have Darren Criss take us out of the show at every commercial? Wrong! There were some technical issues. Some were on the fly – like the giant Ultra Clutch can that rolled out with the door open. Chenoweth altered her lines asking what was in there, while trying gallantly to close the door with her foot (the West Coast didn’t see this since the dress rehearsal footage was dropped in). Many scenes were badly lit, and singers often sang in the dark – most notably while Tracy’s walking to school during “Good Morning Baltimore”. I know this was live, but there must be some lights on the Universal backlot. At least give Tracy a flashlight! Ultimately, none of that mattered. The real star of the show was the show itself. Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman wrote a musical that is as tuneful as it is relevant. It sounded great and proved that, as always, you can’t stop the beat.






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