Well, finding the movie was a little more exciting than seeing the movie. (Precise title: "Pride and Prejudice: a New Musical"). I had big expectations.
At first I couldn't get into it. It was like the Peter Dinklage Cyrano. If the plot hinges on sexual and emotional restraint, you just can't buy it when a character bursts into song. And they shifted the point of view so that Elizabeth Bennet addresses the audience directly, so it's first person not third. So instead of feeling the slow secondhand embarrassment of watching her family sabotage her, you hear her shrug in song, "This is my family, and except for Dad, they are all idiots."
Even more disappointing when Darcy shows up at the first ball. Instead of wondering what inscrutable Colin Firth is thinking, you can hear him sing his inner monologue. That's no fun.
But then it takes a turn and gets quite funny. Side characters emerge to transition between scenes. Bingley's sister sings/drawls an insincere invitation to Netherfield. Priggish Mary Bennet intones the change in settings.
And then it starts to make sense: You KNOW what Mary is like because you've read the book twenty times, and you already HATE Caroline Bingley. So it's almost like a parody: the humor comes because you read the serious version before.
The best laugh comes when Jane falls ill at Netherfield. "Oh," you just thought, "That's when Lizzie visits, and then Darcy says she has fine eyes." Only here, before saying anything, he bursts into song with "I like her EYES!" and the audience laughs.
So, the exposition is awkward, but the fun begins when it starts getting self-referential. I think they should just explain up front that there's a prerequisite that you have to know every word and scene before it starts, so the actors can skip the exposition. Maybe the audience needs to take a pre-test? I don't know. If you can find it, watch it and let me know.
If you haven't read Pride and Prejudice already, well, really, I weep for you.
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