As a singer Carmen Cusack, as Claire Boothe Luce, is an amazing vocalist – she makes every single song her own. Tony Yazbeck as Cary Grant, captured the swagger of Cary Grant and tap danced like crazy; I haven’t seen this kind of tap since 42nd Street! Handsome and charismatic, he was a feast for the eyes. Harry Hadden-Paton as Aldous Huxley presented the most interesting character. He captured a unique man suffering from partial blindness and made you believe that he had done his character work. I believed him the most. Thus, we had the singer, the dancer and the actor. Now we just needed the story. This story was so overwhelmed by the immense, over engineered set. It was often to hard to focus on the characters – what with all the scenery shifting around them. The plot was too predictable: The script gave each of the three main characters a “trip” on their own in Act 1, and give them one communal “trip” at the end. Unfortunately, I really didn’t get to know or, more importantly, to care for any of these fascinating real-world people. The play was also off-putting in that it became a bit of a “drink-a-logue.” It was like a friend telling just how drunk they were over and over again. The most shocking moment for me was that I missed the end of the show ovation. You would think a musical would have some big rousing song to conclude the night – but not Flying Over Sunset. No. This show ended with a breath in and out. The audience near me looked at each other to see if we, indeed, had reached the end. The night itself reminded me of a gift – wrapped exquisitely with bows and glitter but empty as a box when opened.
