My Review of the Musical

WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN: The Musical was great! It's faithful to the source material and you can see a lot went into it. The songs are nice, though none of them will ever become well known hits, and they had creative moments, like the way they redid Pepa's commercial. The set design was very loud and bright and campy for the time period. I loved the way they did the special effects, such as having the taxi come on stage, or when the bed catches on fire, which is the most realistic fire that I've ever seen on stage. They also had lots of little touches; the phrase "talk to me" is used a few times, there is reference to being tied up, and the recipe for gazpacho was written on the curtain before the show begins.

I think the film works better in that it had a stronger narrative flow. The musical adds a lot of superfluous and abstract scenes, which I think were there mostly to give the supporting characters bigger parts. Lucia, Ivan, Paulina, etc, all have very small parts in the film and this gave them a little more. Even the telephone repairman had a bigger role!

Some other strong flaws: Candela was portrayed as ditzy and sitcom-ish, as opposed to just frantic. I didn't like how Act I ends with her jumping over the balcony, then there's an Intermission, then Act II begins with her having not yet jumped and being rescued. Finally, I didn't like how all the characters spoke in fake Spanish accents, which sometimes phased in and out. Patti Lupone is the only one who sounded convincing. The actress playing Marissa was the only one to not bother with a silly accent, and I ended up liking her the best. Sadly, Brian Stokes Mitchell couldn't make it and Ivan was played by an understudy.

There was one aspect where the musical actually improved upon the movie: I always found it very unrealistic that in the movie Lucia just walks into the airport with a gun and virtually no security sees her until almost too late. Also the terrorists never get caught. In the musical, the climax is changed to outside the courthouse and the terrorists are caught. This left me thinking that I like moments from both versions, but again, if I have to choose, I choose the original.

Despite the mixed reviews, the show was very popular with the audience; it played to a full house that gave it a standing ovation, and I don't think the majority of them had seen the movie; they reacted with surprise to a lot of the story. Before it started, I saw people walking by outside and pointing to the sign. A teenage girl said to another "Someone told me that we HAVE to see this show!" I think Women On the Verge works as a stand-alone musical and I hope it's successful, as well as renews interest in the original.






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