The book *has* been reworked. Based on the revival at the Southwark Playhouse in London a few years ago, it's mostly not an improvement.
The change that really hurts the show: 'Colored Lights' is moved from the top of the show to the end of the first act (where I think there was previously a short reprise of it). So the show opens with Anna singing about her retirement plans in 'Chief Cook and Bottle Washer', and the audience sees this funny, feisty older woman looking forward to the rest of her life, and then Angel enters at the end of the song and torpedoes her plans and it basically takes the audience the rest of the first act to stop hating her for it.
The one big plus is that the flashback scene with Uncle Fausto is gone. But the book, unfortunately, is still a mess, and the revisions create at least as many problems as they solve. Pity, because the score is mostly wonderful. |
