Theater Thursday - Lolita, My Love

We were given free tickets to Lolita, My Love for review purposes. Any and all opinions expressed here are our own.

What: Lolita, My Love

Where: York Theatre
             619 Lexington Ave.
             New York, NY

Who: Recommended for Ages 16 and Up Due to Subject Matter

When: Through March 3, 2019

Mom's view -  Lolita the 1955 novel by Vladmir Nabkov about a man obssessed with his young step daughter may seem like a strange subject for a musical. Nevertheless, it was turned into a musical by no less than Alan Jay Lerner along with John Barry in 1971. The show never did make it to Broadway, however. It may have been ahead of its time because that was a little before the 1980s came and musicals began to deal with very serious and not necessarily happy subject matter. Even now, however, this particular subject matter seems a bit much for a musical, and you can't shake the creepiness of the whole thing even as you are watching the show. It is like watching a car accident, you are torn between wanting to look away and not wanting to look away.

The performances in the current York Theatre production of the show are terrific especially that of the two leads. Roberta Sella is suitable creepy as Humbert Humbert. He reminds me a little of Tony Perkins in Pyscho because of the look in his eyes and the feeling that he is always up to something. Caitlin Cohn is just the right mix of coquettishness and sweetness and innocence as young Lolita. The songs are okay, but not all that memorable. The best song is an ode to Saturdays sung by Lolita. It is a really fun upbeat number which one can easily see becoming the anthem of teenagers everywhere. The song sort of seems like it should be in a different musical although it does work to show the ordinariness of Lolita and how she is just like every other teenage girl assuming that is what the writers were trying to get across. In any case, although the show is definitely not Alan Jay Lerner's best work and the subject matter is off-putting, this is a show that is once again worth seeing for the stellar performances and for a chance to see a rarely produced work by one of stage's greatest composers.

And that's Mom's view. Tune in Sunday for this week's Sunday Scoop.

Photo credits: All Lolita, My Love production photos by Ben Strothmann