"The fact is with a musical you can't have an ounce of cynicism, and I do have a bit, I suppose."

"I have never had to worry much about the emotional arc thing before."

Jennifer Saunders, the creator of "Absolutely Fabulous," talking about her new musical, which is based on the songs of The Spice Girls.

Meanwhile, in Milwaukee: "The Sound of Music."

With all due respect to Julie Andrews' matchless soprano and iconic performance, [24-year-old Elizabeth] Telford's Maria therefore gets closer to what this show is really about — and why Maria is irresistible, to the Captain and to us.

While Andrews opens by gracefully twirling through the countryside, a much earthier Telford - with fuller, less angular features and an unruly mop of hair - moves with an ungainly, off-kilter physicality, reinforced by flailing arms and legs reflecting her irrepressible and untutored joy....