IronMan said: "I saw it a few weeks ago, and recommended it to others because it's an original musical, it's moving, and provokes discussion. I'm still thinking about it, and yes, give Victoria all the awards for this performance. But... I do have a few quibbles.
Spoilers, if you haven't seen it (and you should):
Click Here To Toggle Spoiler ContentWhy tell us all the details of Kimberly's disease (especially that she was now past her life expectancy) so early when it would have been much more effective if revealed in her public presentation? Which would explain why her parents didn't want to celebrate her birthday...
Why does the aunt still have the stolen tuba, but not its case? (Yes, for convenience so he can play it, but... ?)
But most of all, don't tell us that the show choir is doing this to be able to buy costumes WITH A REVEAL and then not have that reveal? I kept waiting for it and when it didn't happen I was pissed.
"
Regarding why Kimberly's life expectancy being revealed as only 16 years old early in the first act instead of the presentation on the disease in the second to give an emotional climactic punch, its because while Kimberly's disease is at the center of the show the show is not about her disease. The show about what it means to be alive and experiencing life, by revealing her life expectancy early in the first act it creates a sense of dread and melancholy for audiences as we learn its her 16th a likely final birthday halfway through the first act. In doing so the show puts audiences in the same position as her family, that dread knowing any minute Kimberly could drop dead is precisely what her family is parents have been feeling her entire life, but that is not how Kimberly sees the world because its all she's ever known. As such Kimberly sees each day as a treat and should be lived to its fullest, a sense of optimism that her family constantly living in dread of the fact that she might be gone the following day simply can't wrap their heads around. Thus we get to the central theme of the show, "when life hands you lemons, go steal some apples because who the **** wants lemons."