Saturday, August 14
8:00pm performance
Want to know the first thing that ran through my head when I heard Marin Mazzie was going to replace Alice Ripley in N2N - “That’s a weird choice.” Don’t get me wrong, M&M has the voice and acting chops, but she’s always seemed too - what’s the word…regal, maybe? - to play a pill-popping, bi-polar mess. So, of course, I just had to go see for myself. Inquiring minds (read: theatre queens) want to know! Well, Mazzie is a hot mess (in a good way)! Freed from the distraction of Ripley’s under-pitched singing, I was actually able to focus better on the story, music and performances. While Ripley’s Diana was flat out bonkers, Mazzie’s Diana is in constant struggle to appear under control. The latter choice makes for far better dramatic tension since you always feel an underlying emotional conflict. The moments her disease does overwhelm her, Mazzie’s “breakdowns” seem much more powerful. On the other hand, Ripley is like that crazy uncle that comes to all the family reunions that you’ve just gotten used to and learned to ignore. I’ll concede there’s a certain excitement to Ripley’s balls-to-the-wall performance, but I just couldn’t get passed the singing. I’m not a vocal snob, either. I mean, Lansbury’s Lovett is far from beautiful singing, but she sings on pitch. When Ripley’s on, she can’t be touched. But that inconsistency kills it for me.
The rest of the new family is solid. The emotional connection between Jason Danieley’s Dan and Mazzie is understandable, given they’re real life husband and wife. But I’m starting to get annoyed by the constant straight-tone-into-vibrato that he (and seemingly every Broadway performer) uses on any held note. It’s interesting as a vocal color, but it’s just becoming predictable and meaningless.
Trish pointed out that the hotness factor of Kyle Dean Massey makes some of the mother-son moments seem a bit incest-icky. But he's solid, if not possessing the charm and likeability factor of original Gabe, Aaron Tveit. Could Massey be too good looking to the point of distraction (I can't believe I just wrote that)? And I had a little internal chuckle when it’s revealed that Gabe’s supposed to be almost eighteen. Yup, and I’m almost twenty-five. Meghann Fahy’s a gorgeous Natalie, who should be walking the catwalks of Milan rather than sulking in a practice room. Run away, Natalie, run away and make your fortune away from crazy-mom! Interestingly, I didn't have the same hotness problem with her, since there was an obvious attempt to "plain her down."
I have to admit, on second viewing I enjoyed the show much more. The problems I had with the score and staging initially, didn’t bother me this time around. Oh well, just goes to show, sometimes you just need some time to warm up to a show. Sadly, the mezzanine was nearly empty and we easily moved to much better seats at intermission. I don’t know if they can stay open much longer with half empty houses.
But those huge poster-sized caricatures still scare the hell out of me.
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