I pointed out that I’ve got a signed program from the Broadway show First Date on my desk. Niki and I saw First Date for our 15th anniversary back in July and we loved it.
When tightly wound Aaron (Zachary Levi) is set up with serial-dater Casey (Krysta Rodriguez) a quick drink at a busy New York restaurant turns into a hilarious, high-stakes dinner. As the date unfolds in real time, the couple quickly finds they are not alone on this date as Casey and Aaron’s inner critics take on a life of their own when other restaurant patrons and the wait staff get into the act. Dinner is served with sides of Google background checks, fake emergency phone calls, supportive best friends, manipulative exes and protective parents, who sing and dance them through ice-breakers, appetizers and potential conversational land mines. First Date is Broadway’s new hysterical and hopeful new musical about the chances we take to find love.
Critics were mixed. It’s not Phantom or Spamalot or The Producers. As one of them pointed out though, if audiences listened to critics, Wicked wouldn’t be sold out month after month.
When we took our seats I only knew it had Zachary Levi from Chuck and that it would be an interesting show to see to celebrate being married. We soon figured out that we had seen Krysta Rodriguez when she was Wednesday Addams in the Addams Family musical. Even with Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth on stage, Krysta was clearly the star of that show.
When C.K. and Kristin visited NYC, we saw First Date again with them. They loved it. There were a bunch of changes from the first week of previews and they were all for the best.
At some point during the show each of the seven cast members steals the show. It’s a lot of fun.
Plus we got to meet Zachary and Krysta after the show.
Go see First Date!
Brian Alvey 