Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – In the intermittently thrilling ONLY GOLD, Parisian love is animated through dance and song

• By drediman
• November 28, 2022
• No Comments

On its closing weekend, I had the opportunity to catch up with Only Gold, Kate Nash, Andy Blankenbuehler, and Tedd Malawer’s highly anticipated dance-heavy musical at MCC Theater in Hell’s Kitchen. Set in 1928 in Paris, the fable-like piece tells the story of a royal family who travels to Paris to prepare for a resistant princess’s wedding. Although the musical’s essential common element is love — in its many variations — it’s also secondarily a dance and song love letter to the City of Light (similar to the Tony-winning stage adaptation of Moulin Rouge playing just a few blocks away).

As a work of dance theater, the visually ravishing Only Gold is often thrilling, particularly when it showcases the considerable and distinctive choreographic talents of Mr. Blankenbuehler (a three-time Tony-winner for In the Heights, Hamilton, and the underrated Bandstand), who here also has the chance to try his hand at directing. Unsurprisingly, he does an amendable job of keeping the show in constant swirling motion — complete with an array of striking stage pictures — as if to distract audiences from the flimsiness of the trite, skeletal book (which the choreographer also co-wrote with Mr. Malawer). Mr. Blankenbuehler’s evocative, deeply-felt choreography is set to a collection new and existing songs by Ms. Nash (who also appears in the show as its singing narrator), an accomplished British singer-songwriter with a tendency towards swooning pop melodies — lushly orchestrated and played by a 10-piece band — and quirky lyrics, which in the context of the musical often come across as confounding and/or benign.

The talented cast does their best with the lopsided material. Especially wonderful are the veteran dancers in the company, namely Lucas Steele, Gaby Diaz, and Karine Plandadit. Each are physically articulate movers who bring Mr. Blankenbuehler’s steps to vivid life, especially as supported by the show’s excellent ensemble of dancers. Less successful are the more traditional musical theater thespians of the bunch (e.g., Terrance Mann, Hannah Cruz), mainly because they’re not given much to work with. If you already haven’t gathered, the main reason to see Only Gold is to witness Mr. Blankenbuehler’s magnificently performed choreography. Hopefully he’ll soon find a vehicle worthy of his dance-making talent.

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ONLY GOLD
Off-Broadway, Musical
MCC Theater
2 hours, 20 minutes (with one intermission)
Closed