Got this lovely review from Steven Stanley. Funny about the wedding ring, which none of us noticed, not that there was anything to be done about it. Next time we have a continuity person with us
High school sweethearts reconnect two decades after their breakup in writer-composer-lyricist-director Bruce Kimmel’s World Premiere virtual musical two-hander Tonight’s The Night, 60 minutes you won’t want to miss either tomorrow (February 12 at 6:00 Pacific Time) or on Valentines Day Sunday (February 14 at 5:00 PST).
Watch by clicking here:
https://www.youtube.com/c/haineshiswayBroadway’s Eric Petersen and The Group Rep treasure Hartley Powers could hardly be more perfectly cast or have more instant chemistry than they do as 30something exes who find themselves face to face for the first time in twenty years thanks to the magic of Zoom, and though it’s clear to us from the get-go that these two are clearly made for each other, in the time-honored tradition of the genre we call romcom, it’s equally evident that it will take each of them a good deal longer (i.e. an hour to be precise) to figure this out, especially since each recalls their breakup a good deal differently from the other.
Anyone who’s caught Eric on Broadway in Shrek, Peter And The Starcatcher, School Of Rock, or Escape From Margaritaville, or in four National Tours, or here as an L.A. transplant in UMPO Stranger Things or Something Rotten knows that is one singularly multi-talented gent, and those who’ve seen Hartley at the The Group Rep at the Lonny Chapman Theatre in Bruce’s A Carol Christmas (or opposite yours truly in The Man Who Came To Dinner) has been dazzled by just how dazzlingly she lights up a stage.
Together they could not be more gosh darn appealing, and never more so than when delivering Bruce’s back-and-forth snappy patter or performing ten or so of the irresistibly tuneful songs he’s seemingly got a million of.
I did wonder how someone who makes her living designing websites these socially distant days could have managed to never once have a zoom conference with a client and Eric’s wedding ring (which apparently got remembered and removed about ten minutes too late) had me a tad confused when his character proclaimed himself twice divorced and currently single, but these are teeny tiny quibbles in a production that proves how much can be achieved these days with Zoom as one’s performance platform.
Shot in crystal-clear Hi Def, Tonight’s The Night looks as good as it sounds, and the icing on the cake is the 11th hour arrival of Eric’s real-life daughter Sophie, an absolute charmer if there ever was one.
The same can be said for Tonight’s The Night.
