All in Musical
Deeper cuts from the Bob Dylan songbook are roughly interpolated into “Girl from the North Country”, a new musical by Irish playwright and director Conor McPherson. Heavy on mood, this original Depression-era story offers a compelling look at a mélange of ordinary, forgotten people on the margins of low-rent society, but the effort is hampered by Mr. Dylan’s anachronistic songs and their poor integration into the plot. This one left me chilly and detached.
Belgian auteur Ivo van Hove presents a reimagined version of “West Side Story” for the 21st Century; employing his signature style of theatremaking, this production is thrilling and revelatory, breathing new life into a beloved classic with new choreography, precision cuts to the text, new orchestrations, a superb ensemble cast, and groundbreaking use of video and live filmmaking. The result marks a true summit of achievement in theatre-making and a highlight in a lifetime of theatergoing. It demands to be seen.
Transport Theatre Group Company presents the first New York revival of “The Unsinkable Molly Brown”, featuring a new book by Dick Scanlan. Despite an energetic star turn by Beth Malone, the titular character operates in a single mode, and the Meredith Willson score is unremarkable. This attempt to shoehorn a 21st century approach into the shell of a 20th century musical founders.
After 46 years away from New York, audiences at City Center finally have a chance to see what Jerry Herman and Michael Stewart’s 1974 flop “Mack and Mabel” is all about thanks to a new Encores! production. The result is bittersweet—both thrilling and sad. Jerry Herman’s score shines, alongside performances by Douglas Sills, Alexandra Socha, Lilli Cooper, and a top-notch ensemble, and the atmosphere of old Hollywood is superbly spun. Still, this is not a musical masterpiece, but a beloved curiosity—a good musical that almost works. Perhaps someday, it might.
A look at two new musicals that opened recently off-Broadway: The New Group’s “Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice” and Roundabout Underground’s “Darling Grenadine” (critic’s pick!).
“Jagged Little Pill”, the new Alanis Morissette musical, is a moving mood board collection of disparate images, sounds, and text in search of cohesion; commendably containing an original story touching on relevant themes of today, like drug addiction and sexual assault, the musical sounds great and is well-performed, but suffers from conceptual whiplash as if composed by a committee following focus group instructions.
“Sing Street” is an undercooked musical (play with music, really) adaption of the 2016 hit indie Irish film. A sweet coming-of-age story with a gorgeous heart, the stage version gets none of the charm or quirkiness of the film right, and the thin, surface-deep story does not sustain its length. Still, it remains a promising property that has the potential to be a knockout on stage, perhaps after more time in development.
“Let ‘Em Eat Cake”, a forgotten Gershwin musical, was presented in a MasterVoices concert at Carnegie Hall; a political satire that’s still on point in 2019, the show is a less-successful sequel to “Of Thee I Sing” with an unremarkable score and a jumbled book, but nonetheless remains a delicious treat from a bygone era of musical comedy.
Adrienne Warren gives a spell-binding, jaw-dropping, star turn in “TINA: The Tina Turner Musical”. There’s nothing earth-shattering about the show’s conception, construction, or execution—but not much that offends, either. “TINA”, among the best of its sub-genre of bio-musicals, is a rather unremarkable musical as far as the form is concerned but a terrific entertainment that tells a good story and does it well. See it for Adrienne Warren’s transcendent performance.
A sensational new production of “A Chorus Line” at Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia makes a compelling case for experimenting beyond the container of Michael Bennett’s iconic original. A well-cast ensemble of triple threats breathes new life and new energy into “one of the best musicals ever”, and reclaim the magic that made the show such a milestone in the first place. This production is a must-see for any D.C.-area theatre fans.
“Soft Power”, David Henry Hwang and Jeanine Tesori’s dramaturgically breathtaking new musical-within-a-play, experiments with form while rendering a sort of reverse version of “The King and I”. The resulting satire of American culture and politics brims with an unpretentious intelligence and an unexpectedly penetrating sense of patriotism. If democracy will break your heart, “Soft Power” can mend it.
Joshua Henry stars in “The Wrong Man”, a buoyantly rendered original new noir musical about a man falsely accused of murder that is the brain child of multi-platinum pop music singer, songwriter, and producer Ross Golan. A narrative song-cycle set in an intimate, concert-like atmosphere, this musical gets rhythmically rote, and suffers for a lack of specificity, but is nevertheless saved by a great score, fluid choreography, and Mr. Henry’s titanic performance.
