All in Musical
Keen Company’s revival of Adam Gwon’s delightful chamber musical “Ordinary Days” cleanses the soul, lifts the spirit, and reminds you what you love about New York. All four performers in this almost entirely sung show are outstanding as they tell a simple, beautiful, and original story about how small acts and interactions can change lives. This sweet and quietly extraordinary musical is a must-see.
“Midnight at the Never Get” is a cabaret concert mediation on impossible love, revolution, music, and memory; easily the best new musical I have seen this season so far, Sam Bolen gives a knockout performance as a gay cabaret singer recalling his romance in the smoky backroom haze of New York’s 1960s underground nightclub scene. This gorgeous show is not to be missed.
Director Daniel Fish delivers a glorious and terrifying production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s groundbreaking 1943 musical “Oklahoma!” at St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn, completely deconstructing this canonical and totemic masterpiece of American musical theatre by stripping it of its corn and highlighting the darker themes of violence and injustice that have always been simmering underneath. Sexually charged and presented with a striking naturalism, this masterful new production is a revelation.
A roundup look at “Girl from the North Country” and “I Was Most Alive with You”, a musical and play brimming with craft and daring ambition, despite their depressing subject matter, that left me yearning for deeper impact.
“Show Time! The First 100 Years of the American Musical”, a one-man presentation of the history of the American Musical, has the feel of a slick TedTalk with the added benefit of songs. Serious musical theatre history buffs and those genuinely seeking a lively academic instruction on the roots and evolution of the art form should definitely not miss this show.
The Public Theater and the Onassis Foundation USA present a six performance concert of “The Gospel at Colonus” in Central Park; this gospel-infused re-telling of Sophocles’ “Oedipus at Colonus” is set at a black Pentecostal service and delivered as a sermon. The concept is genius, the storytelling muddled, and the music a little labored. Nevertheless, it is an experience to be remembered.
In “Hershey Felder as Irving Berlin”, Mr. Felder, a pianist and actor, entertainingly performs a docudrama of legendary composer/lyricist Irving Berlin’s life through song and story. Informative and irresistible, the show does not rely on nostalgia for its success, and Mr. Felder gives a compelling and convincing performance.
National Yiddish Theatre Folksbeine’s “Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish” breathes fresh life into a treasured property from the golden age of musical comedy, forcing audiences to interact anew with what is now one of the most well-known and performed musicals of all time, and providing, in return, a host of vital performances and resonant insights. It is, in short, a revelation. See it, or regret it.
Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia mounts a gorgeous, first-class production of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s 1994 Tony-winning best musical, “Passion”, featuring striking and beautiful designs, lush instrumentation, a full-voiced ensemble, and notable performances by Natascia Diaz and Claybourne Elder. If you live in the D.C.-metro area, or will be passing through, be sure to check out this rarely seen chamber-sized musical melodrama.
“Pretty Woman: The Musical” features a painfully uninspired new score, a largely Xeroxed script, no romance, and a gaudy and cheap-looking production entirely devoid of emotion or entertainment. Turning this classic 1990 film into a stage musical was a big mistake. Huge.
“Gettin’ the Band Back Together” is a genuinely funny new guilty pleasure of a musical with a tried-and-true formulaic structure and a host of scrappy, likable characters; the score is unfortunately unremarkable, derivative, and forgettable, but the book, developed through improv rehearsals, is sitcom-light, irreverent, well-beat, and really silly. Others may pile on, but I must admit: I had fun.
“Be More Chill” is a new sci-fi, pop-rock, satirical allegory of a musical for tweens and early teens, and probably not anyone else. Based on a 2004 novel about a high school loser who swallows a pill-sized computer that makes him cool, the show is well-staged and performed, but remains an emotionally disengaging experience. Willed into production re-existence on the strength of its international, online teenage fanbase, expect to be hearing about it for some time to come.
