Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – Processing life through song: Todd Almond’s I’M ALMOST THERE and Gabriel Kahane’s MAGNIFICENT BIRD / BOOK OF TRAVELERS

• By drediman
• October 7, 2024
• No Comments

This fall, a pair of sensitive singer-songwriters — Todd Almond and Gabriel Kahane — have taken to the Off-Broadway stage, each armed with their own beguiling song cycle(s). Read on for my thoughts on them.

I’M ALMOST THERE
Audible Theater at the Minetta Lane Theatre
Approximately 1 hour, 15 minutes (without an intermission)
Closed

This past weekend, Todd Almond’s I’m Almost There (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED) concluded its relatively brief run at the Minetta Lane Theatre in the East Village. Presented by Audible Theater — which seems to be on a roll these days after its wonderful productions of the award-winning Dead Outlaw and Laura Benanti’s Nobody Cares, both at the same theater — the work arrives Off-Broadway after garnering acclaim at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival earlier in the year. Don’t let the bare-bones production fool you. I’m Almost There is the work of immense imagination that artfully depicts the wonderment of human infatuation and the often Olympian effort necessary to cultivate meaningful relationships (especially true in our post-pandemic world). Over the course of the 80-minute piece, Almond takes us on a fantastical tour of his apartment building, bumping into its various quirky inhabitants as he makes his way down onto the street to meet a potential love interest. Between the works discussed here, I’m Almost There is the most theatrically viable, largely coming across like a musical than a song cycle. Sitting mostly at the piano accompanying himself (a harpist and bassist eventually come into the picture), Almond gives a disarming performance — so passionate, so charismatic — as our hesitant Everyman guide. The production has been exquisitely staged by David Cromer, a director who understands the potency of subtlety perhaps better than any other theater artist I know.

MAGNIFICENT BIRD / BOOK OF TRAVELERS
Playwrights Horizons
Each approximately 1 hour (without an intermission)
Through October 13

Currently on the boards, you’ll also be able to take in two additional song cycles courtesy of another soulful singer-songwriter on the keys. These would be Gabriel Kahane’s Magnificent Bird and Book of Travelers (both RECOMMENDED), a pair of similarly themed works that gently yet urgently warn of the dangers of overstimulation — particularly as it relates to social media — prevalent in today’s society, as well as express the need for real human connection. In both pieces, Kahane chronicles actual instances during which he went “off the grid” — once to escape the aftermath of the 2016 Presidential Election via a country-spanning Amtrak voyage (Book of Travelers), and the other time to completely unplug during the time leading up to and during the pandemic (Magnificent Birds). Of the two, Magnificent Bird is the more animated and varied of the two, and it gets my vote for the one to see if you have time to catch only one. Kahane is arguably the more accomplished musician in comparison to Almond. His songs are invariably delicate and sensitive — both in composition and performance — exuding a dreaminess that regularly lulled me into a mesmerized state (especially true of Book of Travelers). In terms of lyrics, Kahane’s words are somber and poetically-inclined, although a part of me missed the vivid personality of Almond’s world. Overall, these productions — cozily directed by Annie Tippe on a set made to resemble Kahane’s Portland apartment — register more like monologues accented with songs rather than the more cohesive theatrical journey that is I’m Almost There.