I went into this production blind. I have heard of the film, but have never seen it as it came out when I was at an age where I would not be allowed to watch such a thing. As I grew up it was not a film I was determined to watch. All I knew was that this was a scandalous film (at least in the eyes of my family).
I guess I shouldn't be surprised that this received the musical treatment as everything these days seems to be turned into a musical, still I was unsure of how I felt about its existence.
The musical was adapted for the stage by Jordan Ross, Lindsey Rosin (also in the role of director), and Roger Kumble (the film's director). It is currently playing at Le Poisson Rouge which is not a traditional theatre space by any means. There are minimal props and set pieces and the band rocks out onstage visible to the audience as the cast sings different 90s hits to tell the story.
Having never seen the film, I can only go off the musical which at times felt rushed causing different plot points to come across as convoluted.
The story follows step siblings Kathryn Merteuil (Lauren Zakrin) and Sebastian Valmont (Constantine Rousouli) as they play mind games with each other. Everything changes when Sebastian falls for Annette Hargrove (Carrie St. Louis).
Most of the time the transitions into the musical numbers felt clunky, but the actual performances were great.
The stand out performances of the night came from Alex Boniello (Blaine) and Jessie Shelton (Cecile).
Anytime these two were onstage you knew you were in for a laugh. The musical numbers between Blaine and Greg (Brian Muller) were also incredibly hilarious.
"Cruel Intentions: The Musical" was fun while the musical numbers were occurring. When they were not, things felt rushed and not fully fleshed out.
No comments:
Post a Comment