Finished the show. Really good! A little rushed but i've seen rusher things this month (looking at you, Hazbin Hotel season 2)

I clapped with Guiteau sang The Ballad of Guiteau (it did not happen)

Anyway, can't wait for the Czolgosz sequel.

Have I mentioned The Bishop has a shoe fetish, existential crisis and also acts like a dog sometimes? God, I only watched this show an hour ago and I already adore this character.

9/10. Extremely underrated. If you don't wanna watch the show just listen to The Waiter's Song and The Bishop's Song. Those two are the pinnacle of the music of this show (as unconventional as it may be)

Despite everything, however, I had the time of my life with this show. I'd rank it a spot below Into The Woods.

It's such a mixed bag of a show that it's either a masterpiece, or garbage. Every opinion on this musical is honestly valid. It's just so transformative, all the way to its quality.

So, I'm not gonna say this musical is badly written just because I don't understand it because, really, I do get the gist of the message. I just don't understand what it means for the characters. The fourth wall breaks, The ending, The fucking bear, Inferno's entire character, it's so WEIRD

I haven't even talked about this show's theme, or message. And, unfortunately, there's a reason why.

I don't think I really get it. I got the GIST of it. But the overall package is REALLY hard to wrap my head around.

In the moments where the message were supposed to come through, they did

That's enough of praise for Sondheim. Despite going into this show as a part of the Sondheim marathon, this is truly the book writer's show, David Ives.

And he did a great job with it. This book is amazing. The second act, especially, is so captivating despite being about characters in ONE room

Waiter's Song is SO GOOD. One of the funniest Sondheim songs on stage (It's great in the cast recording but you HAVE to watch it on stage. It slayed me.)

Bishop's song is also fantastic. Just- What a fucking character, man.

All of The Roads are great, especially The Road 1 part 3.

Do not go in expecting some banger songs, or well-written lyrics. Just go in to be sucked by the character's writing that you completely forgot that a 90-something-year-old lyricist wrote these words instead of the characters themselves. That's honestly enough for me.

He randomly appears, sings one of the best songs of the show, and decides to hang around for some reason.

His conversation with Marianne in the 2nd Act is genuinely touching though.

Speaking of songs, despite being noticeably lacking, those are still the good ol' charming Sondheim songs, alright.

Favorite character of the whole show, though? Gotta be The Bishop, man. I think it's owed to David Hyde Pierce's impeccably charismatic and genuine performance. It's still so funny how The Bishop just enters the show without any build-up and suddenly becomes a part of the cast.

I love Denis O'Hare recurring as every side character (even though he's kinda peaked at The Waiter)

I do wish Tracie Bennett's characters got more moments, though.

The Soldier and Colonel are fun, too. Especially the reveal of the relation between the Colonel and Leo.

Claudia is hysterical. I really do love unhinged upper-class women characters.

Paul is mostly okay but he has his moments.

Leo is my favorite of the main cast. I always loved the morally grey (in this case, straight up evil) old men. They are always the most fun characters in their show's cast.

Every character in this fucking work. This is definitely one of the better ensemble casts I've seen.

Marianne is such an enjoyable and funny character who gained surprising development in the second act.

Fritz is cool even though I thought she'd be the protagonist at first sight

But all I can say is this.

This is one of the most captivating musicals I have ever seen. Extremely funny when it should be. Extremely confusing and mind-boggling when it decides to be, but NEVER a dull experience.

The first Act is PHENOMENAL. So funny, so distinct, the songs are fantastic,

Instead, what I got is maybe the most off-the-wall, bonker pieces of.. thing I've seen? The narrative, the concept, and the characters are nothing that I've seen before. This puts Assassins to shame in terms of unconventional writing.

I did not understand half of what was going on on stage

Going in, I knew this was more of a play than a musical. Sondheim may have written the music, but the music only persists through Act 1 and some of Act 2, the rest is just straight-up dialogue.

So, with that mindset, I went in with hopes that it would at least be an enjoyable play.

If this one did well, and life is not cruel to me, The Ballad of Guiteau will be next in line (give it 10 years tho)

And mayyybe Ballad of Booth, but that song is whopping 8 minutes, so it's gonna be.. tough.

But such a disgusting person to watch.

To conclude, there's really nothing I get from this show that will stick with me except for the feeling of being kicked in the balls 15 times and told to suck it and finish the goddamn show.

8/10. Never watch it again.