Bandstand is a new musical about United States servicemen returning home from World War II and attempting to settle down into normalcy again, “Just Like It Was Before.” Naturally, this being a musical, our servicemen are accomplished musicians forming a band to win a nationwide songwriting contest. An enjoyable, if flawed, first Act falls headfirst over a cliff in the second Act, the whole endeavor marred by fatal errors particularly in direction, sets, sound and lighting.
The premise here is a good one: the integration of our soldiers back into society with all the baggage in their heads and the changes at home which make the journey a true struggle. Adding to that premise are more than a handful of well-written songs from upbeat swing to heart-wrenching ballads. Bandstand struggles a bit (like the recent Sunset Boulevard revival) with how much darkness the musical needs to nail the tension. But I felt there was a solid backbone with which to build a memorable show here.
Laura Osnes (Julia) has a beautiful, clear voice. I should not have to struggle to hear her over the band which happens. The set in Act I never changes. We are always in a bar/nightclub and the cast busily and distractingly moves tables, chairs, pianos, glasses and the like to effect scene changes.
Choreography is inserted whenever possible despite whether it makes any sense or advances the story. In one scene, Julia and the band are performing and her mother (Beth Leavel, terrific) is on hand to watch. I’m sitting center orchestra row G and I happen to look stage left and see the mother and the nightclub owner flirting. I chalk that little throwaway moment to actors embellishing a scene. Then the four couples dancing spread out wide across the stage. Ms. Leavel has to move almost completely offstage to allow the dancers room. They are not really doing anything important, we are just opening up a huge space center stage to be able to see Ms. Osnes and the band perform. Eventually, the dancers return and Ms. Leavel slides back into full view. A teensy tiny slice of the show to be sure, but a real example of choreography taking over the proceedings. Perhaps directors and choreographers (Andy Blankenbuehler) should not be the same person?
Then we get to Act II. Hard fall approaching. We are leaving Ohio, going to New York. No spoiler alert needed as there was no doubt the plot would take us there. Miraculously, the entire set now moves offstage which annoys me since some scenic movement in Act I might have helped the storytelling. What follows is a bizarre Art Deco train ride complete with four dancing porters. We morphed stylistically from Guys & Dolls to On the Twentieth Century. If you are going to go that far, why is the train just some basic chairs on a platform? The show then gets bogged down to wrap up plot and minor characters are largely throwaway stereotypes. Thankfully some good songs help us through.
Happily, the servicemen deliver the goods, lead by Corey Cott (Donny Novitski) who commands the stage and gives us a fully fleshed out anguished leading man. His band mates were all good, adding shades to underwritten characters giving them life and individuality. Did the band’s costumes pay homage to Jersey Boys at the end? And why?
There’s a beautiful song “Welcome Home” at the end of the show. How about lowering the lights and setting a mood? Ms. Osnes can certainly sing and dance well, but her acting can come across as two-dimensional. She’s given an amazing, richly written 11:00 song that she delivers big time. It might have been nice to help her by framing the drama visually as well. That is direction which was sorely missing here.
One more thing regarding that little throwaway flirtation mentioned earlier. In the finale, the nightclub owner and Julia’s mother were, voila, a couple. Seriously, the almost unnoticeable little mini-scene thrown offstage by choreography was needed to connect that dot at the end. A hot mess.