I have returned from DEATH TAKES A HOLIDAY, which has a wonderful cast, a beautiful set and costumes, and a lovely, if self-indulgent, score by Maury Yeston. I think cutting 2-3 numbers would improve the show enormously and pick up the pace of Act Two. Put them on the cast recording as Appendices, but prune. That's my advice.
I like the cast a lot. Rebecca Luker has a wonderful scene with Death in Act Two and a song about her dead son Roberto that had me weeping, and my friend Simon is excellent as the old doctor. I didn't get to see Don Stephenson after the show, but it was nice to see Jill Paice, who's the beautiful reason for a holiday by Death. She looks fantastic in those 20's gowns and sounds like an angel. I also saw Glory Crampton, who's standing by for Rebecca Luker, and she looked fantastic.
The whole cast sings very well, and the score is very well performed. The very bizarre Max von Essen, whom i once considered a friend and since 2001 simply consider weird, was good in a role that I thought suited him very aptly, and I was knocked over by how wonderful Julian Ovenden is in the title role; he's a handsome man with a good physique that will have our DR MBarnum stalking geriatric centers for him in around 40 years.
