Finished "Anna Karenina" and started listening to the musical version, which isn't so much a flop as it is boring. It dumbs down the material in ways that all too easy to understand, much like the recent discussion of writing musicals according to committee, rather than doing what's right by the material.
The title character of the book is brilliant in ways that her husband, who has been called brilliant but isn't, cannot appreciate. She knows everything -- and what she doesn't, she's willing to learn. She takes an interest in her lover's affairs and becomes so well-versed in them that he has to come to her for advice, something her husband never would have thought of doing. She's also a capable writer of children's literature in addition to knowing all about architecture, agriculture, birth control and so on. Her affair with Vronsky isn't only about sex; it's about her finding someone who awakens all of her interests, intellectually as well as sexually. By limiting her character to merely the sexual aspect of her nature, the musical robs her of her greatness -- and subsequently the material's greatness.
What's left is a chorus of people singing "On a train ..."
I saw the show on Broadway shortly after it opened and was disappointed. Hearing the score again, even though it is sung by Melissa Erico, Brian D'Arcy James, Marc Kudish, Gregg Edelman, Kerry Butler and Jeff McCarthy, doesn't improve with time.
