preview chatter says the show feels exactly as joyful and weird as people hoped.

Alex Brightman, Sara Chase, and Ann Harada are already getting love for the comic timing.

the Golden Age references are landing as affectionate rather than homeworky.

audiences who never watched the series say the stage version still works on its own.

people keep describing the whole evening as a smile machine.

if you actively dislike old-school musicals, the parody may not convert you.

some of the reference-heavy jokes will hit harder for theater obsessives.

at 2.5 hours, the sweetness works better if you're in the mood to sink into it.

there's still normal preview tightening happening around pace and shape.