In this comedy about a wedding, It Shoulda Been You, the "you" is a young man, the former boyfriend of the bride-to-be, played with gusto by Josh Grisetti in his Broadway debut at the Brooks Atkinson Theater. His Marty Kaufman is Jewish, so of course he's perfect for the bride, who has instead chosen a goy (David Burtka) who insists upon learning Yiddish. I've had a crush on Josh Grisetti ever since I died laughing watching him in Enter Laughing at Sag Harbor's Bay Street Theater a few seasons ago. The show went on to a run Off Broadway. Now Grisetti gets to display the full force of his talents in a show of eminent performers including Tyne Daly as mother of the bride, and Harriet Harris as mother of the groom, who go head to head, curlered to coiffed. Directed by David Hyde Pierce, this farce including the genre's traditional slamming doors, is a shtick fest with a twist.
The jokes rest on your typical wedding wisdom -- weddings being rife for family feuds, hotbeds of hostility -- each in its own way. But keep your eye on the k-noodling friends in the wedding party, Greg (Nick Spangler) and Annie (Montego Glover). And the bride's overweight sister Jenny (Lisa Howard), a fine singer who ends up the show's real star. Opening night at the Edison Ballroom, a lavish wedding reception featured paninis (an inside joke) and a tiered cake. I asked Josh Grisetti about this plum role on Broadway at last, to wit he quipped, "Can you believe it? I'm not even Jewish."
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