Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – This summer, two oversized spectacles double as Broadway-style musicals

• By drediman
• July 13, 2016
• No Comments

This summer – just in time for tourist season – New Yorkers are being treated to two huge spectacles, Radio City Music Hall’s New York Spectacular (the legendary venue’s summertime answer to its equally legendary Christmas Spectacular) and Cirque du Soleil’s first venture into Broadway, Paramour. The interesting thing about these two oversized shows is that both are being presented in the guise of the traditional Broadway musical, complete with book scenes and integrated production numbers. Although both have their flaws as works of musical theater, the over-the-top pageantry they provide is undeniably impressive.

Between the two, Radio City’s New York Spectacular (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED) is the less ambitious but more successful extravaganza. The venue presented the first edition of this non-holiday show last season and has tweaked it for the better in this year’s edition. In essence, the show is an unabashed love letter to – no, infomercial for – New York City. I have to say, against my initial inclination, I loved every minute of it. The thin plot, concocted by Broadway’s Douglas Carter Beane, involves a family (tourists, of course) who get separated while sightseeing in, to borrow from that iconic song, the city that never sleeps. Through a series of glittering, irresistibly high energy, and thrillingly executed production numbers, the kids and their parents are reunited (surprise!). The one act show, directed and choreographed by Mia Michaels with a brilliant sense of style and momentum, uses a patchwork of instantly recognizable songs such as “Welcome to New York”, “Singin’ in the Rain”, “Vogue”, and, of course, “New York, New York” to crowd-pleasing effect.  New York Spectacular is ably led by a handful of hard-working Broadway veterans including Lilla Crawford (sharing the role with Jenna Ortega), Euan Morton, and Danny Gardner.

Also in town for the summer and beyond is Cirque du Soleil’s first foray into the world of Broadway, Paramour (SOMEWHAT RECOMMENDED). Yes, the entertainment behemoth has dabbled in more overtly musical theater storytelling in the past – those who saw the disastrous Banana Shpeel can attest to this – but this latest endeavor is the first time that Cirque is performing in a legitimate Broadway house (the cavernous Lyric Theatre, appropriately the former home of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark). Conceived and directed by Philippe Decouflé, Paramour tells the story of a love triangle between a high-powered Hollywood director, his rising protégé with a voice of gold, and a talented young composer. The show’s first half shows some exciting promise, melding musical theater and the company’s brand of circus arts mostly seamlessly, thanks in large part to Daphné Mauger’s inventive choreography. The first act culminates in an eye-popping and genuinely entertaining collage of spectacular musical production numbers that are inspired by classic Hollywood movies. However, the show’s second act finds the musical crashing down to earth with a lengthy and banal nightmare sequence and an anticlimactic and pointless final chase scene. The three leads – Jeremy Kushnier, Ruby Lewis , Ryan Vona – are game and do an admirable job with the merely serviceable material they’re given (the score is by Guy Dubuc and Marc Lessard, with additional material by Andreas Carlsson; it’s interesting and telling that there is no credited book writer in the program).

NEW YORK SPECTACULAR
Off-Broadway, Musical
Radio City Music Hall
1 hour, 25 minutes (without an intermission)
Through August 7

PARAMOUR
Broadway, Musical
Cirque du Soleil at the Lyric Theatre
2 hours, 20 minutes (with one intermission)
Open run