Benny & Joon
Not ready for prime time. Too long and too lean. Thistwo hour, forty-five minute musicalversion of the popular movie,about the "challenged" pairings of two couples, is placid cute. Snail paced scenes take forever to make small points (that the movie can make in seconds). The mostly generic songs rarely arouse.It's as if the creators assume their audience knows the story, so they don't have to develop the characters. The movie balances fantasy and reality fairly well. The musical does not. The one conflicts with the other (example: in several scenes Hannah Elless's allegedly schizophrenic Joon is alert, smart, and perceptive; in others, none of the above; same with Andrew Samonsky's Benny). Bryce Pinkham does an imaginative turn as Sam, the mystery man who dresses like Buster Keaton,walks like Chaplin, and references the history of film. ButSam's magic can't make the ending, which glosses over nagging realities, at all credible.
When
Ongoing until Sunday, October 22, 2017
Hours
| Sundays, 2pm & 7pm |
| Tuesdays, 7pm |
| Wednesdays, 7pm |
| Thursdays, 8pm |
| Fridays, 8pm |
| Saturdays, 2pm & 8pm |