Regional Roundup: Top New Features This Week Around Our BroadwayWorld 3/30 - PRETTY WOMAN, LES MIS, BOOK OF MORMON, and More!

By: Mar. 30, 2018
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BroadwayWorld presents a comprehensive weekly roundup of regional stories around our Broadway World, which include videos, editor spotlights, regional reviews and more. This week, we feature PRETTY WOMAN, LES MIS, BOOK OF MORMON, and More!

Check out our top features from around the BroadwayWorld below! Want more great global content? Check out our "Around The World" section!


Regional Roundup: Top New Features This Week Around Our BroadwayWorld 3/30 - PRETTY WOMAN, LES MIS, BOOK OF MORMON, and More! Chicago: Contributor Misha Davenport reviews PRETTY WOMAN. He writes "The fault does not lie with the casting. Samantha Barks (Éponine in the film version of "Les Miserables") is making her Broadway debut as Vivian Ward, the hooker with the heart of gold played in the film by Julia Roberts. She is radiant and likeable in the role and can belt out the score with an emotional intensity. This could be her breakout Broadway moment much like the film was for Roberts' career."


Regional Roundup: Top New Features This Week Around Our BroadwayWorld 3/30 - PRETTY WOMAN, LES MIS, BOOK OF MORMON, and More! Milwaukee: Contributor Kelsey Lawler reviews LES MIS at the Marcus Center. She writes "The women of the revolution - a grown-up Cosette and Eponine, played by Jillian Butler and Emily Bautista, respectively - are each incredibly strong. With one a sweet soprano and the other a sky-high belter, these parts can sometimes play out as shrill or try-hard. Butler and Bautista consistently strike the perfect chord."


Regional Roundup: Top New Features This Week Around Our BroadwayWorld 3/30 - PRETTY WOMAN, LES MIS, BOOK OF MORMON, and More! Seattle: Contributor Jay Irwin reviews THE GREAT LEAP at Seattle Rep. He writes "Director Eric Ting does a fantastic job of switching between the time periods and locales and keeping the action moving with never a wasted moment. Yes, it's literally writ large on the stage but the tone shifts are palpable as well with each moment building beautifully on the last until they all come to a head in an incredibly fast paced game of words. And kudos to Christopher Kuhl for his lighting and Shawn Duan for his projections which aid in that tension build immensely."


Regional Roundup: Top New Features This Week Around Our BroadwayWorld 3/30 - PRETTY WOMAN, LES MIS, BOOK OF MORMON, and More! Long Island: Contributors Anthony Hazzard and Scott Stolzenberg review MAMMA MIA! At the Smithtown Center. They write "Finally, Sophie's groom to be is just sensational. The great Niko Touros is absolutely fabulous as Sky! As much as we support Sophie's self-searching and Donna's breakdown, we are on team Sky the whole way and certainly don't want his warm heart to be broken. Mr. Touros is a triple threat who deserves every ovation coming to him as he flies and glides through every lavish song and dance number with the widest of smiles."


Regional Roundup: Top New Features This Week Around Our BroadwayWorld 3/30 - PRETTY WOMAN, LES MIS, BOOK OF MORMON, and More! Central PA: Contributor Marakay Rogers reviews THE MARVELOUS WONDERETTES at Servant Stage. She writes "The songs, though predictible, are enjoyable. The Fifties set, in the first act, is the wholesome, non-controversial popular music of teen love ("Lollipop," "Mr. Sandman") and teen loss ("Lipstick on Your Collar"). The Sixties, though, are more mature and more rebellious, and so are the Wonderettes ("You Don't Own Me," "Son of a Preacher Man," "Leader of the Pack," "Respect"). Because of that, and because of the plot, as they say, having thickened over ten years, the second act is more energetic and more edgy, but that's a deliberate construction in the plot."


Regional Roundup: Top New Features This Week Around Our BroadwayWorld 3/30 - PRETTY WOMAN, LES MIS, BOOK OF MORMON, and More! Louisville: Contributor Annette Skaggs reviews YOU ACROSS FROM ME at Actors Theatre of Louisville. She writes "Ms. Guha's Mother's Blessings was perhaps the least entertaining of the evening. While the actors did well in grasping what is considered an Amish tongue and dialect, there were those among the troupe that swallowed their lines, which is quite unfortunate as the storyline was extremely hard to follow when one could not understand even half of the dialogue."


Regional Roundup: Top New Features This Week Around Our BroadwayWorld 3/30 - PRETTY WOMAN, LES MIS, BOOK OF MORMON, and More! Los Angeles: Contributor Michael Quintos reviews THE BOOK OF MORMON at the Segerstrom Center. He writes "After seeing the show multiple times and seeing multiple actors take on the lead roles, I am still impressed at the talent pool that has come into the show's touring productions. As Elder Price, Clay has an extraordinary singing voice and I just absolutely love seeing and hearing Pecchioni as Nabulungi. And as Elder Cunningham, the show's awesome center, Peirson, I have to say has become my most favorite actor to do this role thus far. Impressive comic timing, a sweet yet sassy singing voice, and instant likability, the actor is positively beaming in this role."


Regional Roundup: Top New Features This Week Around Our BroadwayWorld 3/30 - PRETTY WOMAN, LES MIS, BOOK OF MORMON, and More! Pittsburgh: Contributor Greg Kerestan reviews HEISENBERG at the Pittsburgh Public. He writes "Any actor, even Anthony Hopkins, would feel subdued next to any competent actress playing Georgie (and Abramson is far more than just "competent"), but Heald proves to have a few tricks up his sleeve as well. The show is more a character study than a densely-plotted piece or a narrative-heavy romantic comedy and Heald shows Alex's gradually blossoming complexity with a masterful slowness. Though the man we first see is just another older guy, out for a walk, Heald shows us, piece by piece, a man who is both a young soul and A VERY OLD one. Set in his ways, taking the same walk and operating the same failing business day in and day out, he is nonetheless technologically adept and a voracious consumer of music ancient, modern and cutting-edge. When, in one of the final scenes, his Alex finally changes out of his accustomed clothes into a new outfit, it is both a fantastic punchline and a moment of understated triumph."


Regional Editor Spotlight:

Regional Roundup: Top New Features This Week Around Our BroadwayWorld 3/30 - PRETTY WOMAN, LES MIS, BOOK OF MORMON, and More! Misha Davenport
Chicago Senior Editor

Misha Davenport is the chief critic for Broadway World Chicago. A Chicago-based freelance writer, blogger, critic and singer. He studied playwriting at Michigan State University under the late Arthur Athanason. He covered theater in the Windy City for more than a decade at the Chicago Sun-Times. He is a fierce advocate and lover of live theater from shows in 50-seat storefronts to big Broadway blockbusters.


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