Pop-rock fans who thrill to those moments in a concert where a vocalist
really lets loose and shakes the rafters will find quite a few such thrills
in this unorthodox, undisciplined effort. The book, lyrics and music are all
by Mark Shoenfeld and Barri McPherson, a pair of writers with no previous
experience in musical theater. Their lack of experience at this intricate
and tricky art form shows as they fail to apply the lessons of how to
tell a story in a musical that others have learned over the last,
oh, about a century. But that doesn't mean that they lack either talent or
inspiration, and they certainly have assembled a marvelous cast! They
turned to Broadway veteran Jeff Calhoun who directed last year's revival of Big River
to shape up their product and get it in condition for a Broadway stage.
He obviously applied many a patch to the hole-filled
structure, but as impressive as some
performances are and as strong as some of the score is, the show still fails to
come together in a coherent whole. Instead, this short but thrilling
ride from highlight to highlight is more like a quirkily staged concert with
a theme.
Storyline: A collection of street
performers put on a show telling the story of the daughter of an American
expatriate and a French entertainer who travels to America to find her father.
It seems he deserted her mother when she was pregnant and so the girl, named
"Brooklyn," never knew her father who came from the city for which she was
named. Before he left, however, he began composing a lullaby which he never
completed. Brooklyn becomes a singing star and uses the melody of that
lullaby in her search for her father, the only man who would know the words
to the song.
Many of the highest thrills
during the show come when Eden Espinosa in the title role lets loose with
rafter-shattering wails. Espinosa was the standby for Idina Menzel when
Wicked opened last year and her delivery will remind many of Menzel in her
"The Wizard and I" mode, especially when she hits her high final note in
"Once Upon a Time" - perhaps the most memorable moment of the show. While
Espinosa can carry the audience to the highest heights for a moment here and
there, it is Cleavant Derricks who provides the most consistent pleasure
from start to finish. He's the narrator of the piece and, as such, is a
constant presence throughout. This experienced performer (he has a Tony
Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for the 1981 Dreamgirls)
provides an anchor for the show to return to again and again after wandering
off on a tangent. He also provides a number of those vocal thrills but he
keeps them from rising so high that they stop the flow of the show.
The story the street
performers are enacting is a fairy tale, and every fairy tale needs an evil
presence for the heroine to conquer. Here it is Ramona Keller as a music
star whose trademark is the pair of dice she wears as a necklace. Her
character's name is spelled "Paradice" and, just in case anyone misses
it, they spell it out for you on the wall of the set. Keller has just as many thrill-inducing spots as
does Espinosa, but since she's not the heroine, she holds back just a bit.
As a result, when she really lets loose toward the end on "Raven," she's all
the more effective. Underutilized are Kevin Anderson as the missing father
figure, who follows Keller's thrilling "Raven" with his own thrilling
"Sometimes," and Karen Olivo as Booklyn's mother (since names are so
important here, let it be stated that her character's name is "Faith"). All
are accompanied by an off-stage back-up group of three as well as a hidden
orchestra of nine.
So, with all those
"highlights" and "thrills," why doesn't the show actually work as a piece of
musical theater? Because theater is about characters and these fairy tale
stick-figures have little substance beyond their part of central story. Many
a Broadway musical has covered up such paper-thin caricatures with comedy or
with dance or with spectacle to keep audiences from noticing at least until
the evening is over. Not so, this one-act, one-set, dance-less tale. Only
the vocal fireworks divert attention. The piece is delivered without an
intermission so you are out on the real street before 10 o'clock from an 8
o'clock show. Some will walk out thinking of how great the big moments were
but, at $95 for an orchestra seat, some will exit asking "is that all there
is?"
Music, Lyrics and Book by
Mark Schoenfeld and Barri McPherson. Directed by Jeff Calhoun. Music
supervision, arrangements and orchestrations by John McDaniel. Music
Direction by James Sampliner. Design: Ray Klausen (set) Tobin Ost (costumes)
Michael Gilliam (lights) Jonathan Deans and Peter Hylenski (sound). Cast:
Kevin Anderson, Cleavant Derricks, Eden Espinosa, Ramona Keller, Karen Olivo.
|
