It is sharply excruciating to watch a group of talented people try to make a bad musical work. The singing sounds a strain, the dancing looks lackluster, the joins in the plot fray visibly in front of you—everything seems off, yet still the company perseveres as it must towards cresting the finish-line tape.

It’s a relatable feeling too, watching this unhappy cauldron of effort hubble and bubble, for who has not tried to make something work when it stubbornly refuses to do so? We see such situations valiantly confronted in dough form on The Great British Bake Off. Sometimes the universe looks at us and says, “Here’s the square peg, and here’s the round hole—enjoy figuring that one out!”

And so it is with Romy & Michele: The Musical (Stage 42, booking to Mar. 1, 2026), the depressingly s

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