I had zero expectations for this show going into. I had no preconceived notions either positive or negative about it. I knew the movie, of course, but my expectations for the music were not high. It is not music you hear on Broadway playlists…so you know it isn’t memorable. Where this musical wows the audience is in the special effects. Not only is there a Delorian--it flies. It also looks like it is driving on the stage. You get classic Doc and Marty chemistry brought to life in front of you! The music picked up from a few forgettable exposition numbers when they were back to the Fifties hits…of course I am a fan of classic fifties music anyway! And of course, the iconic Back in Time had to make an appearance at the end of the show! The man playing Marty McFly, Caden Brauch, embodied Michael J. Fox’s portrayal perfectly. It was a tribute to the talent of Michael J. Fox. Doc was a star as well, with Don Stephenson giving Christopher Lloyed a run for his money. The most hilarious scenes played out with some rewritten dialogue for the modern era in the scenes with Marty’s mother, Lorraine, back in the fifties. Zan Berube killed it more than Lea Thompson. This show was a nostalgic fun romp for Gen X and Early Millennials and set an amazing bar for any technical crew for future shows.
I have to admit I had never seen the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers original of the show when I went to the Broadway Across America presentation of Some Like it Hot. In fact I knew absolutely nothing about the show except the revival had been considered for a Best Revival Tony Award. I loved the era and the clothes of the late 1920’s and early ’30’s and I knew, if anything, that I could revel in that part of the show. What I found was a classic ‘30’s caper comedy with mixed-up identities, romance that never works and cabaret style numbers and jokes. However, what stood out about the show was the tap dance. Though the main characters, Jerry (played by Matt Lohre) and Joe (played by Tavis Kordell)(or Geraldine and Daphne/Josephine) were not completely in sync in their opening numbers, however, the tap-dancing twins turned trio with the addition of Sugar ultimately came to together to tap – an art I think has ultimately been lost and needs to return. The tap dancing chase scenes were definitely fun, although I think the choreography could have been more involved than what it was. Limited by skill or vision, I can’t say. I was completely in love with the outfits Sugar wore. They were simple and classy! It was an entertaining afternoon of mayhem and madcap fun…and although it isn’t a standout show I enjoyed it thoroughly!
When Les Miserables comes to town, I must go. It is the iconic musical of my formative years behind The Wizard of Oz which I have acted in three times. Les Mis was the musical my voice teacher selected for me to learn in my lessons and the music captured me. The story has taken me years to come to understand in all its complexities, but as I grow my connection to the tale changes each time I see it. This touring production was not much different than recent traveling casts. I will say that Javier absolutely stole the show with his voice. His tone and ability to sustain a note was impeccable. Valjean was no one to sniff at, and I appreciate his take on the role. He humanized it with more cadence variance in the delivery of his lines. It was really a heartfelt performance of the complex role. I am sorry to say that the ladies were a little flat. Cosette and Eponine were fine, but they were on the level of what most touring shows provide. Fantine was the best of the three and also gave a more nuanced performance of her song (I was crying – but “I Dreamed a Dream” gets me every time now that I am an adult). I am used to the show being stolen by the Thernadiers, however, ever since the movie version where Sacha Baron Cohen played Messuere Thernadier every cast I have seen has played him in the same way. This Thernadier was flat, basically trying to pantomime what he saw in Baron Cohen’s performance and he fell flat. It wasn’t announced that he was an understudy, but he seemed like he didn’t know the role as well as he could. One thing that continues to intrigue me is where the director chooses to place the intermission. I swear I have seen it done after “Stars” and after Gavroche announces the death of LeMarque—this time it was placed at do you hear the people sing. It made for a shorter second act, but I am just always intrigued. Overall, I was taken with the first act of the show and completely immersed, but I am a sucker for the show every time.
I am ashamed to say I knew so little about this show. That being said, it is most likely not a staple of musical theater repertoire because it is not uplifting at all. What amazed me about the show was just how much music there was—I would equivocate it to Les Mis and Hamilton with a few spoken vignettes between numbers. What was most surprising was that the tragic plot was based on a true story. At the center of the play is Leo Frank, a Jewish supervisor at an Atlanta Pencil Factory in 1914. He is a native of New York who fell in love with a Jewish woman in Atlanta. In the first few minutes of the show, he makes a crack about not knowing that there were southern Jews. The whole opening number is outlining the proud history of the south and the parade where the dead girl was bound was to celebrate the cessation from the Union. Antisemitism rears its ugly head as the scene progresses and Leo is accused of murdering the girl. A down on his beat reporter catches wind of the story and sets out to paint Leo as a monster a la images similar to the Nazi regimes propaganda. The media frenzy he creates spreads to the citizens of Atlanta and a few slipped dollars to the right people ensure Leo is found guilty of murder. Even after his death sentence by the state is reprieved by the governor, the media frenzy continues, and the old south rears its ugly head as it reeks its revenge. It was beautifully staged and the choreography, though subtle was impeccable. One completely eerie scene in the courtroom has three sirens telling the same story as they rotate through the chair on the stand, and the main character was left on stage during intermission to mimic his jail sentence. It was a beautifully crafted piece of art that certainly deserved the Best Revival accolades it received.
When a theater goer, or non-theater goer for that matter, think of Broadway blockbusters, musicals are usually what come to mind. I have to admit that going into Life of Pi, I had assumed that it would be a musical. Almost as a rule, when you take an already written story and reimagine it for the theater with original songs, the music falls flat.
Life of Pi, thankfully, was not a musical. Obviously, I had not done prior research before attending. I had read the book and seen the movie adaptation, both. Neither had ever awed me. I have always believed that the allegory was stretched too thin and ultimately the message was weak at the end of the book. Once again, I was in the wrong and Broadway produced another incredible play. Where the allegory fell apart slightly at the end of the book and the movie turned the tale into an adventure rather than the story of faith that it is, the play was the perfect vehicle to capture the beauty of a young boy’s hopes and dreams. Through beautiful and precise movement, artistry and puppetry depict the inner turmoil he experienced while attempting to come to terms with his new life and faith.
For those who are not familiar with the story, and I was shocked to find out my sister was not, it captures the tale of Piscine—or Pi as he dubbed himself—as his family attempts to flee India to Canada. On the voyage to Canada, the freight ship carrying his family and their zoo animals that they are attempting is ravaged by a storm and Pi is the lone survivor that was located when he was finally found in Mexico. As the Japanese representatives for the shipping agency, the Mexican embassy and the Canadian Embassy attempt to retrieve the tale of what happened, Pi tells a mystical tale of faith, survival, and ultimately – life.
If you can't make the show, check out the book!
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When the 2024-2025 Broadway Across America Tour was announced and &Juliet was on the list I squealed. I was so excited to see this show for two reasons. The first reason, as an English Teacher who has read Romeo and Juliet every year multiple times a year for the entire tenure of my time in the classroom, I was tickled with the idea of the character Juliet growing a spine and setting off on her own story. The second reason: early millennium hits as the means to tells the story for this Jukebox musical.
I am so glad to report that the show was even better than I expected.
For a Shakespeare nerd, the witty zings that were tossed about were hilarious. What I wasn’t aware of when reading the reviews and listening to the soundtrack was that Shakespeare and his wife would be supporting actors in the cast. The premise is that Anne Hathaway, Shakespeare’s wife, comes to London to see the opening night of Romeo and Juliet at the Globe Theatre. Luckily, Shakespeare has finished the ending. However, when Anne reads it she is less than impressed. In fact, she starts brainstorming ideas about where the story could go and hijacks Shakespeare’s quill, leading to the renegade Juliet departing Verona for Paris. The city, not her deceased betrothed.
Through a series of bad puns, self-discovery and creative application of bois band (pun intended) lyrics, a new retelling of Romeo and Juliet develops with modern themes and concerns addressed that have often been applied to the Shakespearean classic in scholarly realms.
One of my favorite modern musicals is a celebration of cheesy music, independence, and wit. Shakespeare would be proud. (Shakespeare!)
The only thing that I knew about Kimberly Akimbo going into the show is that it had won the Tony for Best Musical in 2022 and five Tony’s that year overall. Until the day before the show, I had parsed together that it was a coming-of-age story of some kind. It sounded trite, but coming-of-age stories are usually rather amusing and sweet and so I was game. I knew none of the music, I hadn’t even heard much of it on the ad spots on tv, which was surprising. The story is about a teenaged girl, and it is coming-of-age, but it is anything but trite. Kimberly has a disease that ages her body four times faster than the average human and her life expectancy is only the age of 16. As she nears that birthday, she is dropped into a new town in New Jersey with her pregnant mother with double carpal tunnel hands that are not to be used and an alcoholic father. The story revolves around Kimberly as she makes friends and copes with her dysfunctional family. At her new school, Kimberly joins with a sweetly nerdy wordsmith for a bio report on her disease and her first romance blooms. They become friends with the school’s show choir as they all ice skate at the rink that Kimberly’s boyfriend, Seth, works at. The teenage show choir had dynamite harmonies. There is a subplot of gay/straight crushes among the four choir members and the angsty teenage romance drama was quite obviously written by someone who had been in stage choir. As a high school teacher, it was absolutely hilarious because it was so accurate. The other standout performance was the criminally hysterical Aunt Debra (a role that Melissa McCarthy would kill in a movie adaptation), the only person who understands the awful treatment that Kimberly endures from her parents. Kimberley turns 16 and chooses to act the age of her body and seize the opportunities she has in her remaining life. The music is forgettable, and the serio-comic tone is inconsistent. The play was workshopped in 2019, and some scenes seem as though they were written in the isolation of the pandemic. The comedic bits were awesome, though incongruous to the overall tone. The theme, however, is quite clearly influenced by the uncertainty of 2020 and reminds us all to take advantage of the moments we have.
As a former theater kid, there are several shows that trigger intense memories for me. The Wizard of Oz will always be my favorite because it was both my first show and later my first leading role. Beauty and the Beast is another that pulls at my heart. It isn’t that I love the story, like I do The Wizard of Oz, in fact I could take up feminist beefs with Belle due to the song A Change in Me in the musical. But Beauty and the Beast was the first musical where I was not on stage. I had directed One Act Plays for competition for the previous years where I was teaching, an endeavor I find soul sucking and completely demoralizing to the idea of theater. Beauty and the Beast brought me in as Assistant Director and Backstage Manager. I was dealing with some relationship issues at the time and several of the songs would trigger me in the dark backstage. Those same songs echoed in my heart in this interpretation of the show. Not only because of my attachment to them, but because Belle and The Beast both killed them vocally.
My favorite song that was added to the Broadway show and does not appear in the movie is If I Can’t Love Her. It is incredibly moving – and difficult vocally. It starts in a low range of bass and changes key to hit high tenor notes. Fergie L. Philippe nailed the notes and nailed them in character with feeling. His portrayal of the beast was both creative and masterful. As I said, I never really liked that Belle gave up her dreams and dad because a guy gave her a library. I love travel and books – but come on, girl. Philippe’s Beast showed how vulnerable the character was and he was extremely endearing. He didn’t divert the character from the beloved Disney classic but nuanced it so that he really was not just a beast.
Kyra Belle Johnson played Belle and her portrayal of the bold and adventurous Belle was no less endearing. Her vocals were strong and far from the highly trained Broadway tone that has permeated lead artists in less iconic shows. My only minor qualm was the dissonance that her portrayal of a more modern Belle created with her song A Change in Me. Another non-canonical song from the cartoon version, it basically talks about her giving up her dreams. Maybe I am a selfish cynic, but it seemed so anti-feminist in contrast to her portrayal of Belle.
Another standout in the show was Gaston. You had to love to hate him. Stephen Mark Lukas was definitely enjoying every minute playing the idiotic and boastful Gaston. He was both a dynamite singer and a joy to watch.
The other actress that I found to be incredibly creative and believable in her portrayal of Madame was Holly Ann Butler. She truly captured the humanity behind the dresser, and her humor was pitch perfect, not cartoonish but totally what a woman of that age would have done at the time.
The ensemble as a whole was so talented and they of course stole the show with Be Our Guest. Lumiere, played by Danny Gardner, was an excellent host of the show that included all the dance breaks. From high kick, sweetly attempted by Belle, and a tap dance number with Belle and Cogsworth – it showcased how talented the cast was.
This truly was a magical performance of the tale and although it played with character growth it truly was a tale as old as time.
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