Violet (1998 Original Off-Broadway Cast)
While Broadway as a mega-spectacle can be fun, sometimes big, loud shows can leave a spectator numb. There's no risk of that withViolet, an intimate piece that, in fact, never made it to the Great White Way. And it's just as well, really, since the emotional impact of this unjustly underrated show was a lot more suited to New York's 145-seat Playwrights Horizons theater, where it had a too-short run in 1997. ComposerJeanine Tesoriis often mentioned in the same breath asMichael John LaChiusaandAdam Guettel. While she shares with them a desire to dust off the musical theater, she's also more comfortable than they are with various pop vernaculars. InViolet, which tells the story of a scarred young woman who goes on a road trip through North Carolina, Tennessee, Oklahoma, and Arkansas in the 1960s, Tesori used gospel, R&B;, blues, and country, but the result is unmistakable musical theater and not a mish-mash of styles. Lauren Ward is spellbinding as the title character, and she later went on to be equally impressive in Sondheim'sSaturday Nightand the revival of1776.--Elisabeth Vincentelli