It Shoulda Been You, is a musical comedy for anyone with parents. The bride is Jewish. The groom is Catholic. Her mother is a force of nature, his mother is a tempest in a cocktail shaker. And when the bride's ex-boyfriend shows up, the perfect wedding starts to unravel faster than you can whistle "Here Comes the Bride!"
The cast of It Shoulda Been You includes Tony Award-winner Tyne Daly, Tony Award-winner Harriet Harris, Sierra Boggess, Lisa Howard, David Burtka, Tony Award nominee Montego Glover, Chip Zien, Josh Grisetti, Adam Heller, Michael X. Martin, Anne L. Nathan, Nick Spangler, and Edward Hibbert, along with Farah Alvin, Gina Farrell, Aaron Finley, Mitch Greenberg, and Jillian Louis.
The best way to enjoy the madcap, madly old-hat It Shoulda Been You is to pretend it's a lost TV relic from the 1970s. The shortcomings of Brian Hargrove and Barbara Anselmi's mossy new show, about an interfaith wedding gone awry, are easier to forgive through a lens of affectionate camp: the dated stereotypes of pushy Jews and boozy WASPs, the creaky farcical contrivances, the hokey-schmaltzy jokes...But while the antics are predictable -- aside from one huge, implausible twist -- they're not unenjoyable, thanks to a seasoned and flavorful all-star ensemble...Though the cake is stale, they decorate it well. It shoulda been better but it coulda been worse.
'It Shoulda Been You'...confirms the sad truth that weddings...bring out the worst in some people. That includes cynics, show-offs, heavy drinkers, envious have-nots and, it would seem, the creators of American musicals...'Shoulda'...occupies that treacherous comic ground between smirky and perky. Mining an illusion of charm from such terrain is hard, if not impossible, work for any contemporary performer. Not that the eminently talented ensemble members here don't do their best to fill out the paper-doll stereotypes they have been asked to embody...For the most part, the score sticks so relentlessly to the same up-tempo jauntiness that you expect a bouncing ball to materialize...There's not an element in 'It Shoulda Been You' that hasn't been used, and wrung dry, before. Adding latter-day twists to this cocktail of clichés somehow makes it taste all the flatter.
2015 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2015 | BroadwayWorld Awards | Best Featured Actress in a Musical | Sierra Boggess |
2015 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Actress in a Musical | Lisa Howard |
2015 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical | Josh Grisetti |
2015 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical | Tyne Daly |
2015 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | Tyne Daly |
2015 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | Lisa Howard |
2015 | Drama League Awards | Outstanding Production of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Musical | It Shoulda Been You |
2015 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Actress in a Musical | Tyne Daly |
2015 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Book of a Musical | It Shoulda Been You |
2015 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Director of a Musical | David Hyde Pierce |
2015 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical | Josh Grisetti |
2015 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding New Broadway Musical | It Shoulda Been You |
2015 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding New Score | It Shoulda Been You |
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