Elmore, that's what makes horse races. I actually like much of the music in LADY IN THE DARK andI certainly enjoyed the production I saw. I find it an interesting and intriguing musical, but not a great musical. The operatic aspects you mentioned are things I am not overwhelmed with. Of course, my introduction to this musical besides the bad Ginger Rogers film version which jettisons most, if not all, of the score, was a recording by Opera star Rise Stevens and I found her acting ability a bit limited.
I'm sort of in-between on casting actors over singers. I've found some of the most moving musicals I've seen had stronger actors than singers playing the roles. One of my favourite singers, who introduced probably more classic songs than anyone, was Fred Astaire...who, let's face it, was far from the greatest singer, but had a lot of style and panache and could put over a song.
One of my favourite film musicals is GOODBYE,MR. CHIPS which is full of mostly negligible, if not lousy, songs (except for one or two) and stars Peter O'Toole who can't sing a jot. Go figure.
I know a lot of people who worked with Mickey Rooney in dinner theatre in the seventies who would not want to work with him again. Found him very undisciplined and egotistical. Said you could not trust him or depend on him onstage.
Well, just took Tewkes on his first long walk in days (weeks, it seems) and, despite the deluge of the past few days, the day is simply glorious. Around the corner of our little hill, we have vistas of LA that stretch to the sun-glistening ocean.