Judging from yesterday’s standing ovation, audiences in attendance at Musical Theatre Guild’s one-night-only concert staged reading of It Shoulda Been You most likely came to the identical conclusion as this reviewer. The 2015 Broadway musical romcom shoulda been a hit.

To begin with, It Shoulda Been You seems designed to delight at least three of New York theater’s most significant demographic groups. (You’d have to have seen it to figure out which three I’m referring to.)

In addition, its original Broadway production featured at least one very big name and a couple of Broadway/sitcom favorites along with Broadways’ first Little Mermaid, and it was directed by Broadway superstar David Hyde Pierce, whose husband Brian Hargrove wrote the book and lyrics.

Last but not least, with just about everyone single one of its married and unmarried characters given a happily-ever-after ending, it was a romcom lover’s dream.

On the minus side (apparently the one that won out when It Shoulda Been You closed less than five months after its first preview), it had this going against it:  It was an original Broadway musical not based on a hit movie, its writers had not a single Broadway credit to their names, and finally, it wasn’t Hamilton, Wicked, Dear Evan Hansen, or a Disney blockbuster.

Still, if there were any justice on Broadway, It Shoulda Been You shoulda been a hit, all of which make it ideal for a next-best-thing-to-fully-staged Musical Theatre Guild reading directed by original Broadway cast member Josh Grisetti, who staged this book-in-hand, scenery-free “concert staged reading” as if it were a full-fledged production, albeit one rehearsed in the scant 25 hours permitted by Actors’ Equity.

“It shoulda been you” is what everyone seems to be telling Marty Kaufman (Travis Leland in the role Grisetti originated on Broadway) on the day his ex Rebecca Steinberg (Ashley Fox Linton) is about to wed (heaven forbid!) a gentile named Brian Howard (Zachary Ford), chief among the the naysayers Rebecca’s parents Murray and Judy (Anthony Gruppuso and Eileen Barnett) and her Uncle Morty (Thomas W. Ashworth) and Aunt Sheila (Pamela Hamill).

As for Brian’s WASPy folks, well George and Georgette Howard (Bryan Chesters and Barbara Carlton Heart) aren’t any happier about their son’s impending nuptials than those on the bride’s side of the aisle.

Not taking sides in the matter is Rebecca’s still-single-at-32 sister Jenny (Julie Garnyé), who’s got enough on her plate simply coping with a mother who blames her elder daughter’s unmarital status on her inability to fit into a size zero, two, or four, words that have hardly boosted Jenny’s low self-esteem.

Also along for the ride this wedding day are the groom’s best friend Greg Madison (Adam Lendermon), the bride’s childhood bff Annie Shepard (Helen Jane Planchet), and wedding planner Albert (Jason Graae), who’s remaining neutral provided today’s ceremony and reception go off without a hitch.

As if that’s going to happen, or at least not after Jenny accidentally speed-dials Marty’s cell phone and sends him flying from his theater seat (thank goodness he hadn’t obeyed instructions to switch it off) to stop the wedding.

To reveal anything more about It Shoulda Been You’s multiple surprise plot twists would be criminal.

Suffice it to say that Hargrove’s book and lyrics are as clever and surprise-plot-twist-blessed as they get, and just listen to the Original Broadway Cast recording and try to get composer Barbara Anselmi’s songs out of your head.

As for the Musical Theatre Guild cast, just try finding a more talented bunch of actor-singers in NYC.

In Jenny, the luminous Garnyé, fresh from the Come From Away tour, gets (and nails) the great big leading role she so richly deserves, and never more so than when her made-for-Broadway pop-soprano pipes take flight in “I Never Wanted This,” “Beautiful,” and the showstopping “Jenny’s Blues.”

Ford, Lendemon, Linton, and Planchet are absolutely terrific as a quartet of 30ish friends and lovers whose romantic destinies end up unexpectedly entwined, with special snaps to MTG favorite Linton’s gloriously sung “A Little Bit Less Than.”

Leland makes for the most appealing of leading men, Ashworth, Chesters, Gruppuso, and Hammill are quite marvelous as well, and Graae is his inimitable self (with a bit of Paul Lynde thrown in), i.e. he turns every Wedding Planner quip into a bona fide laugh-getter.

Still, it’s the Moms who prove the evening’s secret weapons, Heart doing her wackiest, snootiest country-club matron and Barnett (never better) doing her most deliciously passive-aggressive Jewish mother, and each gets at least one great big solo (Heart’s “Where Did I Go Wrong?” and Barnett’s “Nice” and “What They Never Tell You”) with which to dazzle and delight.

In what is the furthest thing from a dancy show, Mackenzie Perpich manages to insert entertaining bits of choreography here and there as musical director /conductor Dan Redfield tickles the ivories alongside Steve Dress on bass and Albie Berk on percussion, and A. Jeffrey Schoenberg of AJS Costumes outfits the cast in both casual and wedding-day finery.

Paul Wong is production coordinator. Leesa Freed is production stage manager/production manager. Stacey Cortez and Debra Miller are assistant stage manager.s

It Should Been You may not have been the hit that it shoulda been on Broadway, but with Josh Grisetti directing and Musical Theatre Guild members performing at the peak of their talents, its one-performance-only run at the Alex turned out to be a one-night-only smash.

Musical Theatre Guild, The Alex Theatre, 216 N. Brand Ave., Glendale.
www.musicaltheatreguild.com

–Steven Stanley
February 16, 2020
Photos: Alan Weston

Tags: Alex Theatre, Barbara Anselmi, Brian Hargrove, Los Angeles Theater Review, Musical Theatre Guild