On & Off Broadway

‘It Shoulda Been You’

Reviewed by Elyse Trevers

Posted

I confess. I watch a lot of TV and not just the high-brow Masterpiece Theater; I watch inane comedies, too. I have the convenience of my own home and can rewind, fast forward and delete, and I haven’t wasted my time or my money. Theater should be special enough to warrant the cost and travel involved in seeing a play. That’s why a show like It Shoulda Been You is such a disappointment. It’s a two-hour musical that ‘shoulda' been a 30 minute sit-com.

Directed by David Hyde-Pierce, the show is a typical clash of cultures story.

The show is filled with common stereotypes and cliches. An overbearing Jewish mother (Tyne Daly) is thrilled that her younger daughter, Rebecca (Sierra Boggess), is getting married, but she isn’t happy about her daughter’s non-Jewish fiancé, Brian (David Burtka).

Brian’s mother, a rigid WASP (Harriet Harris) finds solace in drinking. The Jewish father (the genial Chip Zien) is constantly avoiding his wife and the obviously gay wedding planner-cum-narrator (Edward Hibbert) is over-the top. There are a couple of plot twists but even these are contrived.

The religious and sexual differences are mined for laughs, but, quite frankly, some of the humor is cheap. (To fit in with his new family, Brian gets a phrase book and through the play mangles Yiddish phrases.) There’s also the requisite gay humor. At one point, Rebecca’s older sister, Jenny, notes that “Being gay is in.” Gay is certainly ‘in’ for It Shoulda Been You. There’s too much talent in this show to be squandered so cheaply. Daly and Harris are both Tony award winners but are cartoon figures here.

The highlight is the star, Lisa Howard, the overweight, unmarried older sister whose mother notes has “such a pretty face.” She’s a plus-sized lady with an oversized voice and loads of talent. She’s the one reason I’d recommend seeing this show.

The music by Brian Hargrove and Barbara Anselmi is tuneful but forgettable with a few exceptions. Howard sings “Jenny’s Blues,” lamenting her plight and really belts it out when her mother passes by, looks up and wonders, “why is she talking like a big black woman?”

Finally, there’s a second wedding ceremony, and the feeling that all may live happily ever after. (This is Broadway, after all.) But then, that’s exactly what we expected. It Shoulda Been You is the wedding invitation you wish that you hadn’t RSVPed to. At least at real weddings you get to eat at the Viennese table.