For a show where baked goods play a large role, this musical is pretty dark and explores some serious themes: abusive relationships, unwanted pregnancies and marital infidelity. This was somewhat surprising because, not having seen the film and intentionally not reading the synopsis prior to going, I was expecting something much lighter and fluffier! The show explores these themes quite sensitively but, overall, I wasn’t a fan.
The music is so unmemorable and there is an element of American caricature in most characters. I find this grating as there is no sincerity or realness to them, and everything feels like it is played for laughs. Again this was a show where I couldn’t make out the lyrics of chorus numbers in the first act - what is going on with this?!?! This is a trait that is becoming far too prevalent and, quite frankly, inexcusable - people pay a lot of money to see these shows and they deserve to hear them!
I felt like there was a bit of a fan culture for this show, a bit like Heathers, and in fact this production reminded me quite a lot of the recent production of Heathers. Maybe it’s because they are modern American musicals based on slightly quirky films?
The dancing/movement in this production was also quite quirky, and reminded me of the production of Once that was on a few years ago. It wasn’t bad, but I didn’t feel like it added anything.
It was great that there was a song where Katherine McPhee could sing properly, and she has a great voice.
Whilst everyone in the show was great, it just wasn’t my cup of tea.