Legends

On Saturday, I braved the cold, sleet, snow, and generally crappy weather and saw Legends! at the LaSalle Bank Theatre, which was more interesting than enjoyable. After such a horrible slog to get there, and then being stuck next to a very smelly patron (seriously people, if you know you're going to be going to the theatre, you might want to take a shower at least once in the preceding week), I really wanted, and needed to like it. I know the show's history, but I was also aware that now, even more than then, it really was a novelty act, with Joan Collins taking Carol Channing's role and Linda Evans taking Mary Martin's. Dynasty was somewhat before my time, but I do know that it was the show to see and that these two were indeed legends. I knew the novelty would quickly wear off but really hoped, given the show's history, that there would be something to sustain it. However, I found the show to be tame, contrived, and pretty toothless. I expected sharper barbs and wittier lines. The rivalry between the two actresses really wasn't that believable, and their fight at the end of act 1 was really staged. Nothing about the show really rang authentic, and the special brownie plot point in act 2 really seemed out of place. Collins and Evans did well, but the real highlight of the show was Tonye Patano. I love Weeds and she always steals every scene she's in (as Haylia, Mary Louise Parker's supplier), and it was great to see her in a similar, but just different enough to be new, role. It's worth seeing, but if all the empty seats were any indication, not at the prices they're charging.