Tag: Musical

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Bright Lights, Big City (54 Below at Home)

Theater district nightclub 54 Below has programmed an at home series for our entertainment during this pandemic.  Most events are cabarets, showcasing great talents.  Others like Bright Lights, Big City revisit shows with appealing casts.  This particular musical opened Off-Broadway in 1999 to mixed to negative reviews.  This twentieth anniversary concert staging confirms those earlier impressions.

I imagine there was a great deal of anticipation for this show back then.  The source material was Jay McInerney’s 1984 collosal hit novel of the same name.  New York Theater Workshop produced the enormously successful Rent a few years earlier.  Most of the same creative team was on board for this show.  Paul Scott Goodman wrote the book, music and lyrics for this show.  The feel is rock and pop with some bad lyrics.  Very bad.

What is nice about this rendition is the cast’s vocals are strong so the songs get a chance to shine.  This is a concert version so much of the book is skipped.  The story is essentially about a young man who wants to be a writer and is currently working as a fact checker at a magazine.  He discovers the Reagan era party world of drugs, sex and other excesses in New York City.  Things go downhill but redemption comes when he sees a new reality.

The opening number is “Bright Lights, Big City.”  The tone is set quickly and awkwardly.  “You got any blow? / Is Stevie Wonder blind?”  The writer loved this type of quip.   A later song contains: “Do you have a smoke? / Can Bob Hope tell a joke?”  Followed by “Bob who?”  A character in the opening number is named Drug Girl.  She loves “drugs and everything they do.”

The second song is “Back in the City.”  Both opening tunes have two reprises as does the best song in the show, “Brother.”  The lead character Jamie (Matt Doyle) has a brother named Michael (Danny Harris Kornfeld) who is struggling and being ignored after caring for the death of their mother.  Both performers effectively carried that emotional story arc.

In “Sunday Morning 6AM” a dead girl last seen in Washington Square Park sings as the late night partying comes to an end.  Another character named Coma Baby has a song I never need to hear again.  Jamie’s wife leaves him and goes to Paris leading to the song, “I Hate the French.”  The rhyme will be “stench.”  He’d rather tea and Judy Densch.  Not kidding.  Here’s another doozy:  “It isn’t that compelling checking other people’s spelling.”

Coma Baby later returns with a song called Missing.  The worst rhyme of all is in the reasonably decent song “Kindness.”  Jamie’s new girlfriend Vicki (Christy Altomare) rhymes “like” with “psyche,” as in human psyche but pronounces it without the second syllable.  I’m currently reading Stephen Sondheim’s Finishing the Hat in which he dissects his own and other’s lyrics.  I’ve learned so much about rhyming conventions that perhaps I am more attuned now.  To be fair, however, those watching with me did not hear anything they enjoyed.

Without the book it was hard to make sense of some of the hallucination scenes like “Camera Wall” where dead girl comes back for a group number.  This musical is very period specific.  I did laugh (both with and at) the line “monstrous events are scheduled for tonight with Euro trash so nice and soft.”  That felt true to the dialog of that era.

Bright Lights, Big City never went anywhere and it is obvious why.  I enjoyed this short visit (1:15) and the performers who were quite good.

www.54below.com

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Monotony: The Musical (Podcast)

Avid theatergoers who are sequestered at home amidst the coronavirus crisis may find themselves bored.  Along comes an uncannily well-timed new show that bears the name Monotony: The Musical.  Unlike some of the other theatrical streaming events popping up every day, this one will be released as a podcast on April 15th.

Sarah Luery wrote the book and lyrics for this show.  While working in an office in 2008, she jotted down her frustration.  “This monotony will be the death of me” is the opening line for the song “Death of Me.”  The setting is an accounting firm.  Herbert Handler III (Alden Bettencourt) is experiencing “life in a cage.”  A brown bag lunch “provides an hour’s solace at best.”  Herbert’s deceased father wanted him to be an accountant and he listened.  Ten years have passed and he’s got “a diversified 401k and nothing to retire for.”

The tone for this show is set early.  There are plenty of office jokes and clever accounting terminology weaved into this original new musical.  Phones and faxes are the “only thing that makes you know there’s something outside.”  Herbert’s best friend Marnee (Kelsey Ann Sutton) is the office manager who sings about making sure the staplers always stay packed.  Her mother (Alixandree Antoine) chastises her with ” you spend your entire day with men; no wonder you’re out of sorts.”  Monotony begins in a vein of musical comedy-lite before plunging into a melodramatic forest (albeit with a crafty – some might even say campy – structural device for its storytelling).

Herbert works for Mr. McGiver, the firm’s owner.  He has a crush on the son of his boss, a comic book writer named Theo (Jon Gibson).  It is easy to guess that father and son are at odds over this career choice.  “The Son You Need” contains the line “you are an asset that I appreciate despite the cost.”  I have to admit I heard the influence of “You’ll Be Back” from Hamilton in that melody.  Remembering Jonathan Groff stopping the show as King George III brought a smile to my face.  We all need that now.

There is even a number called “The Accountant’s Dance.”  Since this is a podcast, you will have to choreograph that one in your head.  Counting is involved such as “one foot in, one foot out.”  An even better idea is to click the link below.  Watch the original “Turkey Lurkey Time” from Promises, Promises to glimpse an office party gone wild, 1960’s style.

Monotony has seven episodes which average twenty to twenty-five minutes long.  After leaving the office in the first episode, the trials and tribulations of its appealing young characters take center stage.  Herbert oversleeps one morning and sings “I’m Late” with brass accompaniment that recalls theme songs from old James Bond films.  Many tunes become dirges such as “Woe is Me.”  If you listen closely, however, some lyrics are bone dry and quite funny such as “Here I am… barely existing at all / Like a 5:00 shadow or a urinal stall.”

This musical continues headfirst into late twenties/early thirties angst.  Career dissatisfaction.  Divorce, both parents and children.  Mom’s new boyfriend who happens to be daughter’s co-worker.  Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich adoration.  A very sweetly rendered gay romance.  Some ponderous philosophical musings including this proclamation:  “I give myself permission to stop living for others.”

What is very effective in Monotony is the use of an unusual narrator to add a documentary flare and some welcome humor.   That part is well-voiced by Ted Macofsky who also doubles as the boss.  Herbert’s relationship with his dead father is nicely developed with some thoughtful emotional twists emerging from the overly heavy drama.  There are stock characters populating this musical for sure.  As played by Ahamed Weinberg, the smallish role of Bode somehow managed to make me laugh out loud despite the recognizable broad caricature.

Monotony is an old-fashioned musical targeted to a younger audience.  When it tips into absurdity and surprises, the show is at its most interesting.  Jared Chance Taylor’s music is often pleasant but the accompanying vocals are, to be honest, very mixed in execution.  While millions of us sit at home with a depressingly escalating virus all around us, a little Monotony might be just what the doctor ordered.  Take a chance and see if you agree with the observations from my seat.

Monotony: The Musical will release its podcast on April 15, 2020 and a link can be found on its website.

www.monotonythemusical.com

youtube/turkeylurkeytime

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Nona Hendryx and Disciples of Sun Ra in the Temple

The Temple of Dendur is the only ancient Eqyptian temple located in the United States.  Housed in the Sackler Wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, this 15 B.C.E. creation is an example of a typical pharaonic temple.  This magnificent and grandly spacious room was the setting for Nona Hendryx and Disciples of Sun Ra in the Temple.  It is impossible to imagine a more perfect location for this mystical concert and celebration of the music and philosophies of Sun Ra.

Prior to the performance, living futurism sculptures expressively walk through the aisles.  Their gracefully elegant and very controlled movements were choreographed by Francesca Harper.  They wear stunning Afro-Egyptian-Indigenous costumes created by Virgil Ortiz which were inspired by the Met’s Native Collection.  The show begins and an announcement is heard.  “Rocket number nine taking off for the planet Venus.”  The lyric further informs, “zoom, zoom, zoom up in the air/ zoom, zoom, zoom way up there.”

Sun Ra was the stage name adapted by a prolific jazz composer and bandleader of experimental music.  He was also known for his cosmic philosophies and theatrical performances.  Craig Harris, a member of Sun Ra’s original Arkestra, was the Musical Director of this concert.  He uses the deep sounds of the didgeridoo to welcome the parade of performers to the stage.

Nona Hendryx, an original member of Labelle who has had a long solo music career, magisterially leads this ensemble.  Her notes on the program indicate that “this concert will collapse time:  past, present and future, space and place, inner and outer worlds, traveling via music and the mind to Stars, Quasars, Suns, Moons and delving into Black Holes.”  Sun Ra was a pioneer of Afrofuturism and this amalgam of gifted artists invited the audience to “fly up to the sky on the ship of Ra.”

The music is rhythmic, almost atonal jazz with individual notes in disarray but also contains a futuristic sound overlay while a beat continues underneath.  As I settled into the sound, I found myself concentrating on the messages.  “The sky is a sea of darkness where there is no sun to light the way.”  “Only fools believe in god we trust/ All we are, are cosmic dust.”

Afrofuturism is “Afro-present and Afro-past.”  Not fiction nor science, this aesthetic addresses dreams and concerns of the African disapora through technology and science fiction.  A future stemming from past experiences is imagined.  In addition to Sun Ra, the music of Parliament-Funkadelic and the Marvel comics superhero Black Panther are considered seminal Afrofuturistic works.

As the show progressed, the physical environs meshed with the accomplished musicianship and the otherworldly musings.  At one precise moment, the stage was bathed in a gold light.  Even the now gleaming silver costumes seemed to be reflecting the sun.  The moment was jaw dropping in its impact.  Sitting in a spectacular room beside an ancient Egyptian temple while harnessing the magical godlike powers of the sun god Ra is a once in a lifetime event.

The presentation of Nona Hendryx and Disciples of Sun Ra in the Temple was utterly serious.  They generously invited us to be a part of their space world.  With messages like “take the time to be kind/ you will find peace of mind” it is easy to recognize the appeal and be drawn into the worldview.  We are all just specks in the universe.  While we search for universal truth, “memories and ashes are all we leave behind.”

I am feeling very lucky to have been in the right dimension to see this unique and inspiring tribute to the late Sun Ra.  His wisdom continues to be remembered.  The band still tours on the road.  Artists such as Ms. Hendryx (in great voice here) spread the word as dedicated and inspired disciples will do.

Met Live Arts is the Metropolitan Museum of Arts’ program to showcase dazzling and thought provoking programs within the context of iconic gallery spaces and in their theater.  (Photo credit to Paula Lobo.)

www.sunraarkestra.com

www.metmuseum/org/metlivearts

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The Unsinkable Molly Brown (Transport Group)

A few months ago I was flipping television channels and bumped into the opening song for The Unsinkable Molly Brown.  I had not seen this movie for forty years and it is still wildly entertaining.  I was looking forward to the Transport Group’s update to revitalize this 1960 musical theater chestnut.  The 1964 film starred Debbie Reynolds as the indefatigable title character.  History forever remembers her as a survivor from the sinking of the Titanic.  The musical is based on her remarkable life story.

Tammy Grimes originated the role of Mrs. Brown on Broadway and won a Tony Award.  Ms. Reynolds was Oscar nominated for her take on Molly.  The character is bigger than life and allows an actress to sink her teeth into this plucky, feminist-forward lady.  Beth Malone portrays her in this revival and the role suits her just fine.  This Molly has energy and drive for days.

Dick Scanlan has rewritten the book and added new lyrics for this update.  The adjustments are substantial.  Only three lines of original dialogue remain.  Less than half of the songs are from the 1960 musical.  The rest are from the catalog of Meredith Wilson.  An entertaining and slight biography now has deep messages thematically scrawled in big bold letters.  Act II grinds to a dreadfully dull halt.  Ms. Malone is a terrific Molly but, like the fateful ocean liner, she cannot prevent the sinking.

Directed and choreographed by Kathleen Marshall, the first act is largely fun and captures the spirit of this famous woman.  The town’s miners note “there is no curse worse than a woman anywhere near a mine.”  Molly eventually takes to the road and meets J.J. Brown (David Aron Damane).  They marry and he discovers a gold mine.  After becoming wealthy, they try to join the Denver social elite.  As you would imagine, plucky is frowned upon by the snobbish women.

Prior to her high society quest, Molly is simply a great gal, tomboyish and non-judgmental.  In the show’s best ensemble number, Molly befriends some saloon “workers” who join her in the raucous “Belly Up to the Bar, Boys.”  This is the indomitable Molly who asks, “if I gotta eat catfish heads every day, can I have them on a plate just once?”  The transition to join the “Beautiful People of Denver” is not smooth.  Husband J.J. is not a fan of croquet.  “I don’t want to play a game I can’t pronounce.

Molly and J.J. will have marital problems related to their increasingly divergent views on life.  She decides to immerse herself in culture, escaping to Europe and becoming the toast of society there.  The transatlantic trip home – and her reported bravery on the lifeboat – would endear her to Denver and forever keep her story well known.

An interesting tale about a woman who grabs life by the horns in a male dominated world is marred by slow pacing and preachy lessons.  (You can successfully tell stories about women who navigate in a man’s oppressive world without being heavy handed.  My review of the new Broadway musical Six will be published next week.)  This Molly wants to be relevant now.  How relevant?  This line is plucked from today’s headlines:  “If you don’t vote you can’t complain when officials do not reflect your intellect.”  There is nothing inherently wrong with the notion.  It’s just another thematic point loudly hammered home.

The cast is very good, especially Paula Leggett Chase in multiple scene stealing roles.  I cannot recommend The Unsinkable Molly Brown due to a very dull second act.  At intermission I was very engaged in the performances and the storytelling.  Ideas were in short supply in the far less peppy second half.  Plodding might be the best description.

“Colorado, My Home” is a glorious tune which was sung by the movie’s costar, Harve Presnell, who created the part of J.J. on Broadway.  Trivia buffs might be interested to know that this song was dropped from the musical after opening night and restored for the movie version.  (The song is left out here as well likely due to the vocal demands.)

I understand this fine Off-Broadway company wanted to create a new take on Molly Brown.  In this instance I prefer the old-fashioned version.  Find the movie, make some popcorn and discover the charms of this forgotten show.  It’s not a Meredith Wilson classic like The Music Man but it is very fun.

The Transport Group’s production of The Unsinkable Molly Brown is being performed at the Abrons Arts Center through April 5, 2020.

www.transportgroup.org

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Little Shop of Horrors

In 1983, I saw Little Shop of Horrors downtown at the Orpheum Theater about one year after it opened.  The show was a smashing success and ran for five years.  This sweetly diabolical musical was made into a film in 1986 and had a Broadway revival in 2003.  With this production, Audrey II is back where she belongs in an intimate Off-Broadway house.

The plot is well known for being extraordinarily fun and cheesy in equal measures.  The genius of this incarnation is the massive dose of talent on stage which supplies affecting newness, superlative characterizations and inspired clowning.  Fans of the show, fans of musical comedy and fans of smiling will be entertained mightily.  If you happen to embrace all three groupings, this version should impress.

Gideon Glick (Significant Other, To Kill a Mockingbird) is currently playing Seymour.  Every inch the nebbish, he is awkwardly timid and secretly pines for co-worker Audrey.  Rescued as an orphan by Mr. Mushnik (Tom Alan Robbins), Seymour works with Audrey at the failing flower shop.  The relationship between the three is quickly established and effortlessly realized.  When Seymour’s newly developed plant makes this flower shop famous, this nerd’s infatuation with the cult of celebrity fosters the bloody turn to the dark side.  Mr. Glick is superb in the role.

Tammy Blanchard (How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Gypsy) portrays Audrey, the punching bag girlfriend of so many undesirable men on Skid Row.  This role seemed permanently stamped with Ellen Greene’s original interpretation.  Ms. Blanchard is not the ditzy girl with some bad luck here.  She’s damaged, unhinged and altogether wobbly.  That characterization flows through her line readings and songs.  The interpretation is darker, fragile and infinitely heartbreaking.  From this Audrey, the ending is almost a relief.

If that weren’t enough to recommend this show, Christian Borle (Peter and the Starcatcher, Something Rotten!) takes on the role of the dentist and other assorted characters.  As always, he is a consummate clown.  This time he sports a pompadour and an unhealthy addiction to nitrous oxide.  The physicality of his performance is exceptional.

The scenic design by Julian Crouch is niftier than I remember from the original and is very effective.  A stage-wide bloody sheet and Bradley King’s lighting create a macabre dentist office that’s creepy and silly.  Michael Mayer directed this truly memorable production.  My only quibble is that the lyrics sung by the three Urchins can get garbled up in the sound design and choreography.

In a difficult period for the American musical, Howard Ashman and Alan Menken wrote this little show based on a science fiction B-movie.  Their success led them to Disney and the creation of 1989’s The Little Mermaid which won Oscars for Best Song and Best Score.  Their string of outstanding movie musicals helped keep the art vibrant and alive.  An entire generation was influenced by their catchy tunes and lyrical wit.  Little Shop of Horrors might be a touch darker in spirit (and more ghoulishly fun) but, like most of their work, the high level of entertainment quality is exhilarating.

Little Shop of Horrors is being performed at the Westside Theatre and has been extended until May 10, 2020.  Jeremy Jordan takes over the role of Seymour beginning March 17th.

www.littleshopnyc.com

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Mack & Mabel (Encores!)

In 1964, Jerry Herman, Michael Stewart and Gower Champion combined forces to launch Hello, Dolly! on Broadway.  A decade later they would bring Mack & Mabel.  The show was a flop and ran only 65 performances.  Despite the mediocre to negative reviews, the musical was nominated for eight Tony Awards, winning none.

Long considered one of Jerry Herman’s best scores (even by the composer), this Encores! production enables a revisit to a show many had hoped would be revived (and fixed).  The songs are indeed excellent and Rob Berman’s orchestra showcased them beautifully.  Amusingly, of the eight Tony nominations, the score was not recognized.  The music is the only thing remembered positively today.

Mack & Mabel is a semi-fictionalized tale of legendary silent screen director Mack Sennett and one of his great stars, Mabel Normand.  In this telling, Mabel is discovered when she delivers a deli sandwich to the Brooklyn sound stage where Mr. Sennett is filming in 1911.  “Look What Happened to Mabel” puts the audience back in time and establishes a fun tone.

The tone is one of the bizarre problems in Mr. Stewart’s book which has been rewritten over the years.  The show opens with Mack looking back after the talking pictures made him obsolete.  He sings about when “Movies Were Movies” to open the show.  He comes across as an unlikable curmudgeon but the staging and the song establish the period well enough.

The show, however, is narrated by Mack so the character is more of a memoirist rather than a participant in this tragic romance.  Instead, boring exposition occurs.  While not a direct quote, the feeling is:  “In this scene, Mabel will betray me and go to another film studio.”  It doesn’t help that Douglas Sills and Alexandra Sochi don’t develop any real chemistry.  I have to concede that the same criticism was made of Robert Preston and Bernadette Peters in the original.  As written, the roles and the musical’s structure might be an insurmountable hurdle.

Mabel died in 1930 from tuberculosis.  Her drinking and drug addictions are chronicled here so the mood is somber and dark.  In the original, the creators decided that Broadway audiences needed a happy ending.  The musical ended with Mack imagining a wedding with the dead Mabel.  That oddity was excised in this version and perhaps audiences today can tolerate more darkness in their musicals.

The show embraces Mr. Sennett’s contributions to the silent film era notably the Keystone Kops.  Mr. Sills sings “I Wanna Make the World Laugh” which sums up his directorial style.  When he gets the idea for filming his Bathing Beauties, “Hundreds of Girls” is the energizing first act closer.

“When Mabel Comes in the Room” is the first number in Act II.  Is it a replica of Hello, Dolly’s title track?  Definitely.  Molly has not really been out of the story but, after years of film success elsewhere, she is welcomed back where she belongs.  From this good time moment, the show descends into darkness, or tries to and fails.

There’s a good song called “Tap Your Troubles Away” that probably should be dark and menacing to accompany the story being told.  As staged here, it is a weird happy dance.  The ballads in this score, especially Mack’s “I Won’t Send Roses” and Mabel’s exquisite “Time Heals Everything” are top drawer Broadway show tunes.

Encores! is usually a great opportunity to catch well-staged performances of forgotten shows or those with some flaws.  This production was not one of the finest in this series but nonetheless interesting from a historical point of view.  The score is still excellent.

The next musical in this year’s Encores! series is 1948’s Love Life by Kurt Weill and Alan Jay Lerner running from March 16 – 22, 2020.

www.nyccitycenter.org

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West Side Story

The overture begins.  When the action starts a cameraman is filming the performers on stage.  Images are projected on the large screen.  West Side Story was a reasonable success on Broadway when it opened in 1957.  The Academy Award winning film is the vehicle which projected this musical into classic status.

Hiring Ivo Van Hove to direct this third major Broadway revival signaled an intent to push the boundaries of what came before.  Controversy swirled.  Rumors of choreography changes in previews to go back to Jerome Robbins’ justifiably praised original.  I have never seen a stage production of West Side Story and my movie memory is positive but decades old.  I eagerly anticipated this revival.  From my seat, this version is a mixed bag.

Gang members have cell phones so this revision is clearly an update.  The best change relates to the gangs.  These are not shiny chorus kids who are brilliant hoofers, although there are some very accomplished dancers on the stage.  The Sharks and the Jets are more menacing here.  The American versus Puerto Rican angle has been abandoned for significant diversity on both sides.  These gangs are territorial focused rather than ethnically divided.

That change enables tensions with Police Officer Krupke (Danny Wolohan) to spotlight racial tensions and draw parallels to dynamics with law enforcement today.  Amidst the swirling hormones and turf wars, a contemporary view emerges.  Maria and Tony seem to fall deeply in love in three seconds.  The core relationship at the center – and its intensity – is presented but not established in a remotely believable time frame.  This choice may be commenting on the pace of coupling today enabled by technology and apps.

The whole show takes place over two days.  Scenes are time stamped on the big screen.  I presume the  information was intended to ratchet up tension.  I found the information undermined the storytelling.  Did we really demonstrate “One Hand, One Heart” that quickly?

This West Side Story is largely spellbinding to watch.  More than occasionally, however, the stage is barren of set and people.  The video projections kick in.  The locations where Tony and Maria work are rooms visible at the back of the stage.  When the cast enters those areas they essentially leave the stage.  The detail within the scenes is pretty cool.  If you pull yourself away from the movie, you realize that the very large stage is empty.  It’s compelling and puzzling at the same time.

What is not cool is the song “Cool” which is the low point of the musical numbers.  A number of songs have been cut including “I Feel Pretty” which is not missed at all.  Singing is not the strong point of this revival and the vocal styles are very mixed.  That’s not necessarily a bad thing.  The development of characters and mood are clearly more central in the casting choices.  If you come expecting glorious vocals, however, you will be disappointed.

Isaac Powell and Shereen Pimentel have nice chemistry as Tony and Maria.  Their vocals are mismatched but that contradiction was additive.  I found myself engaged with their story arc.  They are the core of this show.  Everything around them is busy but they manage to ground the story when they appear.

Mr. Van Hove’s use of projections on stage has been escalating.  The staging of Network was intense.  We watch Bryan Cranston melting down on stage and also see the television viewers’ perspective.  In West Side Story, projections are scenery.  The camera rolls down the street as the gang walks.  Other times multiple images are maniacally flashing.  The people on stage cannot compete with the overly distracting visual projections.

This West Side Story is a gallimaufry.  Parts are very engrossing with an updated edginess.  (Should there be a moratorium on stage rain at this point?  Discuss among yourselves.)  The musical numbers are largely unexceptional.  I enjoyed the choreography by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker.  Hers is not Jerome Robbins at all but fit the style of this show.  The sections of this production which sag give you time to wonder if this is conceptual filmmaking more than a theatrical presentation.  That is a stimulating idea but an empty stage in a grand Broadway house will not be everyone’s cup of tea.

West Side Story is playing at the Broadway Theatre.

www.westsidestorybway.com

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David Byrne’s American Utopia

I remember going to a midnight screening of Jonathan Demme’s concert film Stop Making Sense in 1984.  I was a huge fan of the New York band Talking Heads which successfully emerged out of the New York punk rock/new wave scene in the 1970’s.  There is no possible way to estimate how many times I listened to the album Remain in Light.  I finally got around to catching David Byrne’s American Utopia during the final week of its Broadway run.

This supremely stylized concert opens with Mr. Byrne seated at a table and contemplating a plastic brain.  He delves into neural connection theory noting that our brains become less functioning as we age.   “Does this mean babies are smarter than us and we get stupider as we grow older?”

Unlike Bruce Springsteen’s spectacular Broadway memoir, this piece is a concert with a few musings inserted along the way.  The mood is unadulterated joy.  He and his musicians are all wearing gray suits.  Their feet are bare.  Instruments are carried marching band style.  For fans of halftime shows, the percussion is exultant.

Voting is an important message as demonstrated by the registration table in the lobby.  Mr. Byrne comments on the 55% turnout for national elections and the 20% number in local ones.  The average age in those contests is 57.  Lighting shines on 20% of the audience to punctuate the point.  The concert moves on to the next gloriously staged song but the point is made simply, quickly and effectively.

In the most serious section, he informs that he asked Janelle Monáe if he could cover her song “Hell You Talmbout” despite being a older white male.  She agreed.  This version was the closest this concert got to anger with the repeated phrasing of African American victims of racial violence.  The lyric “Trayvon Marton” is followed by “Say His Name.”  Mr. Byrne implored the crowd to join in which was only partially successful.

That moment was powerful but reminded me of the Springsteen show.  In that one, certain audience members were hoping for a singalong show of greatest hits.  Bruce had other ideas in mind.  David Byrne’s American Utopia is certainly much more of a feel good concert and the big hits “Once In a Lifetime” and “Burning Down the House” are explosive.  In between smiles and joy, however, playful seriousness lurks before quickly returning to a happier place, the imagined utopia of the title.

On the stage is a striking three sided curtain of hundreds of metal chains.  The lighting design by Rob Sinclair is endlessly inventive and often highly dramatic despite rarely using color.  The palette of this show is silver and gray like its’ star.  Mr. Byrne is the elder statesman performing to his flock.

Is this concert a symbolic utopia?  If you consider the outstanding orchestrations for this twelve person ensemble, the answer is yes.  When you add in the phenomenally interesting and unique choreography by Annie-B Parson, utopia becomes an understatement.  Marching band meets David Byrne meets funk and dabbles in rock.  Somehow the physical movement tops everything and you cannot peel your eyes away.

Many songs from his whole career catalog are included in this show.  From Remain in Light, I was thrilled to hear a superb rendition of “Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On).”  Consider this line today: “Take a look at these hands/ The hand speaks/ The hand of a government man.”  Could there be a more appropriate thought bubble in our increasingly fragile democracy?  As Mr. Byrne brilliantly demonstrates, have your fun but pay attention.  And vote.

David Byrne’s American Utopia is closing this weekend.  There were some open seats in the back of the orchestra likely due to unsuccessful scalping.  Try your luck by showing up at the theater.  This show is, after all, once in a lifetime.

www.americanutopiabroadway.com

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Jagged Little Pill

In 1995, an Alannis Morrisette album was released and became one of the best selling records of all time.  Nominated for nine Grammy Awards, it won five, including Album of the Year.  The new musical Jagged Little Pill uses these songs (plus others in her catalog) to create a story embracing the spiritual anxiety of that material.  Like its source, this new incarnation is thoughtfully dense with a definite point of view and gets right up into your face.

All these years later, this personal expression of youthful anger has been transformed into an explosion of outrage directed at our society; both past and present.  This musical is much more than another visit to #metoo, however.  The messages are more urgent than that considering the times.  A disgusted generation growing up in an America where a man brags about assaulting women and then is elected President of the United States.  The person held accountable for that event?  The dumb schlub who giggled along side him.

Diablo Cody wrote the book for Jagged Little Pill and there is a great deal of story told here.  Some may find the plot overstuffed with crises.  I found the deluge of emotionally jarring material to be reflective of today’s torrential onslaught of societal unfairness and misguided morality.  Ms. Cody covers so much ground from gender and race issues to the opioid crisis and sexual assault.  In framing her story around one family, these larger dynamics are afforded a personal, more intimately considered touch.

Mary Jane (Elizabeth Stanley) is the perfect mom on the outside who carries some secrets.  Her generation’s idea of sweeping crap under the rug is indicted for its dishonesty.  Husband Steve (Sean Allan Krill) is a workaholic which has lead to a severe disconnection with his family.  Their perfect scholar athlete son Nick (Derek Klena) has just been accepted to Harvard.  Adopted daughter Frankie (understudy Yana Perrault) is black and experimenting with her sexuality.  She is largely invisible to them other than superficially.

Similarities certainly exist with the musical Next To Normal but this show surrounds its main family with numerous outside characters.  Mom has her judgmental Spin Cycle circle.  The kids have their peer relationships as well.  Frankie has a girlfriend named Jo whose mother is diligently working to pray away her gay.  When Frankie meets Phoenix (understudy John Cardoza), a surprising spark occurs.  The character of Jo gets the show’s biggest number, “You Oughta Know.”  Lauren Patten stops the show cold just as Alannis did when you first heard her wailing on the radio.  “And I’m hear to remind you of the mess you left when you went away…”

Thankfully, Jagged Little Pill avoids recreating the album which would be impossible and unnecessary.  Instead these songs are used to allow characters to express emotions and thoughts.  Very few songs are solos.  What struck me is the generation who listened way back when are now the parents at the theater.  Having them and the children communicating through that same songwriting voice is quite interesting.  The younger generation seems significantly more pissed off though.  Mom says, “all I want is peace and comfort.”  Her daughter follows with “all I want is justice.”

Like life, everything is not gloomy all the time.  There are many solidly written lines which deliver humor.  “Happy families only live in orange juice commercials and Utah.”  When daughter Frankie proclaims, “I have agency over my body,” mom hilariously asks, “what does that even mean?”  But it is the poignant observations and difficult truths which deepen this story.  One line struck me as particularly sad and extraordinarily perfect.  Mom admits “one day I’ll look back and feel something other than relief.”

What is the formula for a highly recommended musical?  A well-told story creatively staged.  A familiar score given gorgeous and muscular rock orchestrations (Tom Kitt) to bring newness along side the inherent familiarity.  A very talented ensemble infusing their characterizations with believable emotions.  Technical flourishes (set, lighting and projection designs) that continually dazzle.  A choreographer (Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui) with something new to say (the dream sequence in the second act is an absolute stunner).

Director Diane Paulus (Waitress, Pippin, Hair) at the helm has made all of that happen.  There is a massive amount of everything in this musical.  The balance between earnest and heartfelt storytelling remarkably contrasts with the visual and auditory volume of the show.

There are people who will probably find this show’s call for protest, honesty and change too youthful and naive for their tastes.  Our sickly damaged and defective world practically begs for screaming.  Hope for the future squarely rests on young adults to rise up and bring sanity and morality back into focus.  That is a hard pill to swallow.  A jagged one.  It’s like rain on your wedding day.

Jagged Little Pill is being performed on Broadway at the Broadhurst Theatre.

www.jaggedlittlepill.com

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Emojiland

There are musicals created simply to make you smile.  Or, in the cast of Emojiland, “Smize.”  That would be the character Smiling Face with Smiling Eyes.  Laura Schein plays the bubbly on the surface Smize.  She co-wrote the book, music and lyrics for this cotton candy confection with Keith Harrison.  If you own a cell phone and have penchant for delectable frippery, Emojiland is a recommended download.

Download is the major plot catalyst which drives this show.  As Information Desk Person informs, “emojis of all shapes and sizes have come together to count down the moments and count up the percentage and installation of what may be a major software update.”  Immigrants are about to crash into Emojiland.  Friends or foes?

Quite a few emojis have been hanging around since 1.0.  This update is number 5.0.  Some of them are excitedly embracing change and others are nervous.  Thinking Face deadpans to Smize, “I was thinking… what do you want from the update?”  Police Officer (Felicia Boswell) worries, “I hope we don’t get a fresh batch of bad characters.”  Her girlfriend, Construction Worker (Natalie Weiss), coos, “If anyone can handle ’em, it’s you PoPo.”  Good vibes combined with silly musical comedy sweetness are the tones effectively created here.

Then again, there is no show without conflict.  We’ve all watched the Progress Bar waiting and hoping for a successful update to our cell phones.  These emojis have their whole way of life about to be permanently changed and, perhaps, not for the better.  Imagine you are the Princess happily lording over your internal cell phone universe.  The arrival of a Prince might be an unwelcome intrusion.

Lesli Margherita (Matilda) sings “Princess is a Bitch.”  She is indeed.  She is also a pink wigged bauble sporting a Madonna-esque pony tail.  This show is filled with delightfully conceived characters.  In the supremely capable hands of Ms. Margherita, Princess rules them all.  The performance is hilarious and, by itself, worth the price of admission.

Not to be outdone, a very dandy Prince arrives fully intent on assuming his privilege.  The relationship between the two royals will not take on a romantic angle, for obvious reasons.  Josh Lamon and Lesli Margherita are reprising the roles they originated last year at the New York Musical Festival (NYMF).  Like the best monarchs, they slay with abandon.

The romcom in Emojiland is between Smize and Sunny (Smiling Face with Sunglasses). If Smize is sweetness and goodness, Sunny is all conceit and ego.  He “makes your pixels start to pound.”  Jacob Dickey is excellent in a confident Off-Broadway debut.

Nerd Face is also downloaded as part of version 5.0.  He becomes the moral center of this story.  Terrifically played by a perfect George Abud, the unending cascade of dorky lines are possibly the funniest elements in the witty script.  After he joins the emojis, Nerd Face will be the first to realize that something is up with the studly Sunny and the ditzy Kissy Face (Heather Makalani, delightful in multiple roles.)

Max Crumm (Grease) is memorable as Man in Business Suit Levitating.  He spends the whole show on a hoverboard.  His choreography is both effortless and unfathomable.  Tony Award nominee Lucas Steele channels Alice Cooper, a Victorian Grim Reaper plus the Jekyll & Hyde and Phantom of the Opera musicals in his portrayal of Skull, a sadly depressed emoji who wants his existence to be deleted.

A pile of other characters pop in and out of Emojiland.  The only one that seemingly stinks is Pile of Poo (Avenue Q‘s Ann Harada).  Her one number in the second act was the only dud in a tuneful pop score.  (When I saw this show’s debut last year, I recall this song being a humorous turd.)  Overall, however, this very talented cast does a stellar job belting out vocals and nailing their laughs.

Director Thomas Caruso’s production frames the show in technology with a fun house set design by David Goldstein and projections by Lisa Renkel & Possible (who also created the clever props).  Vanessa Leuck’s brilliant costume and make-up designs are colorfully cartoonish.  If you can remember back to being a wide-eyed child, Emojiland hits the senses like arriving at a carnival.  There’s too much of everything.  As a result, fun appears in every direction.

When I saw and reviewed the NYMF version of Emojiland in 2018, I was a big fan.  It is nice to report that the upgrade succeeds.  At the end of that review I wrote: “One plea:  Can we add dancing lady in a red dress emoji?  Please?”  Kenny Ingram’s spirited choreography happily includes Man and Woman Dancing. Her dress was red.  This theater nerd was smizing from ear to ear.

www.emojiland.com

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