First preview- Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

The newly renovated Belasco Theater was sold out Friday night for the first preview of the star studded "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown", the musical adaptation of the 1988 Oscar nominated film. With a writing team of David Yazbeck and Jeffery Lane, direction by Bartlett Sher, and a cast lead by Sherie Rene Scott, Patti Lupone, Brian Stokes Mitchell, and Laura Benanti, expectations among ticket holders were high.

That didn't last long when Sher took the stage shortly after 8pm to inform the audience that this, in fact, was the FIRST full run through of the show. The production, which had already delayed previews by three days to allow for more tech rehearsals, could not get through an entire run through the night before. Sher told the audience that the actors were "terrified" to perform in front of them tonight, asked us for "a lot of love", and warned us that we would likely see a show stoppage at some point if the safety of the performers were in question.

On one level, it's a cool opportunity to be in the house for what amounts to the first dress rehearsal for a major Broadway production. On the other hand, it sucks paying $270 for a show that isn't ready for audiences.

And believe me, on this night, "Women on The Verge" was not ready for an audience. I will withhold an official review, because this is not a finished product. However, here are a few observations:

The show is elaborate, and feels much bigger than it's $5 million budget would indicate. When it works, it's fantastic. During a scene where Scott's character is studio signing vocals for a movie musical, there is a breathtaking mix of an old time "MGM style" film playing on a screen behind her as live actors are seamlessly integrated to make it appear like a live action black and white film is happening.

On the other hand, South Pacific's Danny Burstein plays a Madrid taxi driver, with an awful taxi that moves across the stage at a snail's pace. On the screen in the back is an abstract version of what is supposed to mimic passing traffic, but comes across more like primitive graphics from a 1983 Atari game. The taxi was a constant tech problem, sometimes requiring stagehands to push it on and offstage. To their credit, Burstein and Scott admirably ad-libbed to cover for the mistakes. Yet, it was embarrassing to watch live.

As an overall note, the set changes were slower than bad community theater. There are a ton of pieces to move and they have not yet figured out how to do it quickly. In some instances, actors were onstage beginning scenes before the set had arrived. My guess is that they can tighten the run time by 15-20 minutes as this gets resolved in previews.

The set budget, however, was not the only thing that was bloated. The show features a sizable ensemble of terrific dancers, and fantastic choreography by Christopher Gattelli. The catch is, the dancing happens so infrequently in this book heavy production that it sometimes feels jarring and out of place when you see it. I felt the same way about last season's flop, "9 to 5", where it seemed like some dance numbers were staged just for the sake of having them.

As for the cast, they are still trying to find their rhythm. The evening's standout was Laura Benanti, as the high strung best friend of Sherie Rene Scott. Her comic timing was spot on, and she didn't just steal scenes on this night, she often times carried the show on her back and ran away with it. Her act 1 number, "Model Behavior", was one of the nights musical highlights. Patti Lupone was also in fine form as the crazy ex-wife. As over the top and nutty as she plays the character in act 1, she finds just the right emotional chords in the second act to break your heart for the years she wasted waiting for her husband to come home. The usually reliable Sherie Rene Scott is still finding her way in this show, which is somewhat understandable given the fact that she has the most stage time in the cast. She really seemed to struggle through the plodding, exposition heavy, opening 30 minutes of the show, but then gained confidence as the night went on. Brian Stokes Mitchell was in fine voice throughout the night, but feels somewhat underutilized despite being the show's womanizing antagonist.

Producers have a lot of work ahead of them in coming weeks. The tech aspects will fix themselves, but there are a lot of subplots and secondary characters that feel underdeveloped. Who exactly is Mary Beth Peil's character anyhow? A landlord? A Madrid version of a concierge? Why exactly is she on the verge of a nervous breakdown and why is she singing onstage with the other jilted women at the end of the show? Why is Danny Burstein's taxi driver onstage so much? I get that he's supposed to serve as a narrator, but does he really need three songs? Why was Nikka Graff Lanzarone cast in this show? Is her character supposed to be Spanish? Or is she an American? Because if she's Spanish, she's not bothering to do an accent and it's kind of annoying.

You have to think with the parties involved, this show will gel and go on to become a hot ticket. For now, I would suggest staying away from the preview performances unless you know you can't be in the city to see the finished product after it opens.

If you have attended a subsequent preview, feel free to leave a comment below. I'm curious to see how the show is progressing.