Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Barry Manilow and Bruce Sussman’s HARMONY finally arrives on Broadway, formulaic but with high voltage timeliness

• By drediman
• November 14, 2023
• No Comments

Last night, the new musical Harmony by Barry Manilow (music) and Bruce Sussman (book and lyrics) opened on Broadway at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. The show finally arrives on the Great White Way after decades of persistent and patient development (this final iteration of the show is largely molded on last year’s Off-Broadway production at the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene; you can read my review of that 2022 run here). The musical tells the true story of The Comedian Hormonists, a German all-male singing group that found international fame during the years leading up to the rise of the Third Reich. Suffice to say, things don’t end up well given that half the group was comprised of Jews.

In essence, Harmony is a memory play told from the hindsight perspective of “Rabbi” — played with immense emotional heft by the great Chip Zien — the last surviving member of The Comedian Harmonists. As he navigates feelings of nostalgia, guilt, and finally horror for having outlived his counterparts, Sussman’s book simultaneously lays out the rise and fall of the group in a succession of fever dream-like scenes. Throughout, there are strong formulaic shades of two musicals — Jersey Boysand Cabaret. Unfortunately, Harmony doesn’t quite live up to the level of craft of either of those Tony-winning musicals. Nevertheless, Manilow has written a very pleasant but somewhat elementary pastiche score — sprightly played by a nine-piece orchestra — that refreshingly stays clear of pop music stylings. Most importantly (given all that’s transpiring in current events), one can’t underestimate the effect of the musical’s high voltage timeliness. Indeed, Harmony packs quite the emotional punch because of it.

Crisply paced and constantly in motion, Warren Carlyle’s staging is a model of sleek efficiency. Given the additional resources at his disposal in the move uptown, Carlyle (who also provided the crisp choreography) has been able to more fully and potently realize his clear-eyed vision for the piece — a stark, crystallized manifestation of the swirling black hole that is Rabbi’s troubled headspace. As The Comedian Harmonists, the hardworking quintet of Blake Roman, Steven Telsey, Zal Owen, Danny Kornfeld, Eric Peters, and Sean Bell are excellent — distinctly delineated individually and effortlessly blending as one as a singing group. Aside from Zien’s deeply affecting present-day Rabbi, the other standout performance is Julie Benko’s smoldering portrayal of the firebrand Ruth.

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HARMONY
Broadway, Musical
Ethel Barrymore Theatre
2 hours, 35 minutes (with one intermission)
Open run