Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – The recent crop of new musicals proves the elusiveness of the art form

• By drediman
• December 31, 2015
• No Comments

When developing a new musical, some sort of alchemy and luck are invariably involved. That’s because there really is no set formula when it comes to creating an artistically and/or commercially successful musical. Even when a piece adheres to a so called tried-and-true template, the results tend to be bland and the audience reception tepid (Allegiance, I am talking to you). That’s because much of the beauty and thrill of art is showing us something new, either in form or content. The lasting influence of Stephen Sondheim’s trailblazing, beautifully crafted, and wholly original musicals – like the exquisite, wildly adventurous Sunday in the Park with George – proves this point. At the same time, musicals like Mamma Mia! and this season’s School of Rock prove irresistible entertainment despite their predictable, albeit crowd-pleasing, construction. This fall, I had a chance to catch a handful of highly anticipated new musicals on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and beyond. As expected, some were more successful than others, for varying reasons.

INVISIBLE THREAD
Second Stage (Off-Broadway)
Closed

Matt Gould and Griffin Matthews’ Invisible Thread (SOMEWHAT RECOMMENDED), which recently closed at Second Stage (the show was formerly known as Witness Uganda in a previous run at American Repertory Theater), tells an inspirational story that’s based on Mr. Matthews’ experience as a volunteer in Africa (Mr. Matthews also starred in both the A.R.T. and Second Stage productions). If the show’s premise is reminiscent of The Book of Mormon, its score calls to mind the sentimental pop melodies of Jonathan Larson. However, despite the good intentions of its creators, this earnest and over-romanticizing show failed to move me – although I know some who were deeply moved by the piece. For my taste, there were a few too many anthemic “I want” numbers in the frequently joyous score (if I closed my eyes, it’s as if I was hearing a Disney musical), which diluted the grit and danger inherent in the story. The show is performed by an overly eager cast, led by the admittedly charismatic Mr. Matthews, much of the time to cloying effect. I did find Diane Paulus’s kinetic direction, which did a good job of camouflaging the manipulative nature of the piece, to be commendable.

GIGANTIC
Vineyard Theatre at Theatre Row (Off-Broadway)
Closed

Vineyard Theatre’s recent production of Gigantic (RECOMMENDED), which got its start as Fat Camp (you got it, the musical is about a group of overweight kids at a summer camp designed to help them lose weight) in the 2009 New York Musical Theatre Festival, is one of those musicals in the feel-good Hairspray mold. However, unlike its Tony-winning predecessor, which suggestively delved into edgier territory, Randy Blair and Tim Drucker’s book sticks primarily to an “after school special” mode. Still, Matt roi Berger and Randy Blair’s strong score is a perfect blend of bouncy and earnest. Additionally, the show was exuberantly performed by a young, thoroughly likeable cast and winningly directed by Scott Schwartz (the snappy choreography was by Chase Brock). Fortunately, Leslie Kritzer and Burke Moses were on board. As the camp counsellors, these two musical theater veterans were hilariously dead-on; only they understood the playfully subversive potential of this otherwise perfectly pleasant, if somewhat generic, new musical.

CAKE OFF
Signature Theatre (Regional – Arlington, VA)
Closed

Sheri Wilner, Julia Jordan, and Adam Gwon’s slight but potent Cake Off (RECOMMENDED) at Arlington, VA’s Signature Theatre (the show was an entry in the DC area’s triumphant Women’s Voices Theater Festival) proved to be among the more satisfying and successful new musicals of the season I’ve come across. In many ways, the show, which chronicles a televised baking competition, admirably shares a lot of the same qualities of and brings to mind William Finn’s witty and heartfelt The 25^th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Like Bill Finn’s score for Spelling Bee, Mr. Gwon’s work for Cake Off is quite the gem; his searching lyrics (co-written by Ms. Jordan) authentically tug at the heart and his music feels accessible yet completely right for the situations and states of mind the characters – brilliantly played by the trio of Sherri Edelen, Todd Buonopane, and Jamie Smithson – find themselves in. As a result, the characters become people you really want to root for. One small gripe, though: in it’s current state, Cake Off still feels a bit too much a like a fringe show. I hope to see it produced in a slightly expanded version, perhaps by adding an additional character or two, in New York at some point in the near future.

SCHOOL OF ROCK
Winter Garden Theatre (Broadway)
Open Run

School of Rock (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED), which recently opened on Broadway at the Winter Garden Theatre, marks a triumphant return to form for Andrew Lloyd Webber. In fact, the musical, a conventionally structured adaptation of the popular film starring Jack Black (the book is by Julian Fellowes of Downton Abbey fame), is his best since the gargantuan, and very different, Sunset Boulevard opened on the Great White Way more than 20 years ago. In School of Rock, Lloyd Webber has smartly and effectively returned to his rock roots (á la Jesus Christ Superstar). His irresistibly insistent score thrills in the theater, especially as performed by the irrepressible Alex Brightman – in a mega-watt star-making performance – and his young, insanely talented students/band mates. Gosh, I can’t tell you how many times “Stick it to the Man” ran through my head after seeing the show. Kudos also to Laurence Connor, who has confidently directs the production with admirable efficiency.

LAZARUS
New York Theatre Workshop (Off-Broadway)
Through January 20

For me, one of the most transporting theatrical experiences of the year was David Bowie’s uncompromising, sometimes confounding, but altogether sensational new “jukebox” musical Lazarus (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED) which is currently running at the New York Theatre Workshop. The mesmerizing musical, essentially a meditation on loneliness and immobility, is a sequel of sorts to the cult 1976 sci-fi flick The Man Who Fell to Earth, which stars Bowie as Newton, an alien who comes to earth to save his race but ultimately yearns to return to his home planet. Lazarus, which takes place some years after the film, finds Newton still in the same predicament, although the musical envisions his inability to leave Earth as more of an existential crisis than anything else. In this light, Lazarus is an ideal companion piece to the equally idiosyncratic and fascinatingly theatrical Preludes by Dave Malloy (the latter musical boldly depicted Rachmaninoff’s bout with writer’s block). Lazarus has been directed with laser-like intensity and visionary flare by red hot Belgian director Ivo van Hove. The extraordinary cast is led by a trio of truly memorable performances, including Michael C. Hall (riveting and fully committed as Newton, the alien going through his version of a mental breakdown), Cristin Milioti (in an utterly fearless performance as Newton’s personal assistant; I won’t soon forget her emotionally unhinged rendition of “Changes”); and Michael Esper (so seductively cynical as Valentine, the villain of the piece).