First Date
Tickets from $35 Buy Tickets
Cititour.com Review
It’s admittedly early in the theater season to make predictions, but I’m still willing to bet (at least the paycheck for this review) that no one will make a more assured Broadway debut over the next nine months than former Chuck star Zachary Levi does in the surprisingly amiable new musical First Date at the Longacre Theatre.
It’s not only just Levi proves to be an actual Neal Patrick Harris-like triple threat – He sings! He dances! – as Aaron, an uptight Jewish investment banker on his first-ever blind date. But his seemingly effortless charm and remarkable ability to command a stage often make us forget just how predictable Austin Winsberg’s book can be as it navigates Aaron’s effort to connect with Casey (former Smash diva Krysta Rodriguez), a seemingly uptight, arts-loving shiksa who might as well have a “D” stamped on her forehead for Defensiveness.
The journey, while sometimes quite humorous, is mostly well-charted territory for anyone who has ever been on any sort of date in the last decade. It doesn’t help matters, either, that for most of the show’s first hour (of its 90-minute running time), what we learn about Aaron and Casey comes almost strictly from Winsberg’s dialogue. Meanwhile, Alan Zachary and Michael Weiner’s tuneful if almost instantly forgettable songs are allotted among the hard-working, talented ensemble of five (Bryce Ryness, Kristoffer Cusick, Blake Hammond, Sara Chase, and Kate Loprest), who play a wide variety of characters ranging from Aaron’s dead grandmother and snarky best friend Gabe to Casey’s advice-giving sister Lauren, her hysterical gay best friend Reggie, to the nosy, performance-loving waiter in the eatery where Aaron and Casey have met.
In fact, little feels at stake until Casey lets down her guard – at least to us – in “Safer,” a touching ballad performed to perfection by the big-voiced Rodriguez. And once we discover more about Aaron’s past, first in “The Things I Never Said” and later on in the show-stopping “In Love With You,” in which he finally lets out all of his feelings about Allison, who left him alone under the chupah on their wedding day, there finally feels like something might really be at stake for this pair of unlikely lovers. (Mind you, the outcome is never really in doubt.)
Director Bill Berry and musical stager Josh Rhodes do their best to make the material feel bigger than it is, but one can’t help but feel this show would ultimately feel more at home Off-Broadway or in regional theater. But there’s no question that Levi is completely at home on the Great White Way, and one can only hope it becomes his permanent address.
By Brian Scott Lipton
Visit the Site
http://firstdatethemusical.com
Open/Close Dates
Opening 8/8/2013
Closing 1/5/2014
Preview Open/ Preview Close Dates
Preview Opening 7/9/2013
Closing Open-ended
Box Office
212-239-6200
Theatre Info
Longacre Theatre
220 West 48th Street
New York, NY 10036
Map
Comments
Sign up for our newsletter !