Here's my third of what will be four installments of capsule reviews from the 2012 New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF). Click here for my first and second installments.
One of the break-out hits of NYMF this year, at least in terms of attendance, was Re-Animator: The Musical. The show's festival popularity was likely based on the name recognition of the H.P Lovecraft title, the 1985 cult film based on the book, and the presence in the cast of "Cheers" alum George Wendt. Re-Animator is yet another in a line of intentionally campy musicals trying to recapture the magic of Little Shop of Horrors or Bat Boy. Instead, we get something a bit closer to Evil Dead: The Musical or The Toxic Avenger, at least in terms of the quality of the writing (i.e. low). Re-Animator got off to a shaky start with an opening number of which I wasn't able to understand a word. Perhaps this was a sound-level issue, or the loud, lifeless synthesizer accompaniment, but the dull drone of the tuneless music itself wasn't helping. The score by one Mark Nutter exhibits little if any compositional flare, although some of the songs did occasionally approach something resembling a melody. There were a few numbers that exhibited periodic flashes of wit and tunefulness, for instance one involving a medical student accusing his professor of plagiarism, and another involving an autopsy. But, as the show stands, its main assets lie in some reasonably funny set pieces and in the potential for special effects, some of which were already quite impressive, in particular a zombified mad scientist carrying his own severed head. One final note of irritation, there were clear and obvious shills in the audience emitting painfully obvious forced laughter. (Note to once and future writers: Please don't do this. If your show works, the audience will provide the approbation. If it doesn't, you're only embarrassing yourself when the one person laughing is your Aunt Marie.)
Foreverman, with book, music and lyrics by Brett M. Bolles, was among the more sweepingly ambitious NYMF shows this year: a gothic romance with a heavy dose of science fiction, involving two doctors who discover an elixir that grants immortality and the cautionary tale that results. The story has merit, and the show holds a decent amount of promise, particularly in terms of the pleasant, melodic score. But the libretto is full of holes, particularly with respect to the time frame. The show bounces back and forth between the 17th and 19th centuries, relying on supertitle projections to keep the audience temporally oriented. Much of the dialog is of the ploddingly expository kind, but perhaps in most need of fixing are the character motivations, which are downright inscrutable at times. It's not always clear who knows what, about whom, and how they found out about it. For instance, the two central central doctors have a falling out at the end of act one, which is supposed to drive the rest of the story. But it's not entirely clear why they're mad at each other. At various times, characters catch on to what's going on with the whole immortality thing, and the explanations often strain credulity. In fact, there are so many unexplained coincidences and unmotivated character choices that the name of the show could be
Wait, What!? The lyrics are bland at best, at worst inscrutable, with an overabundance of clichés and tortured metaphors. One of the doctors sings about his lady love, "I would trade it all for a vial of her name...I'd give up everything for a single drop of her." I guess this has something to do with the elixir at the center of the plot, but I'll be damned if I can parse that sentence. If
Foreverman has any future, it's going to need a fairly significant rewrite. Perhaps Mr. Bolles should stick to the music, which again is fairly strong, and bring someone else in to help with the words.
A Letter to Harvey Milk was one of the big winners this year of the 2012 NYMF Awards for Excellence, including the award for best book, a shared award for best lyrics, and performance awards for stars Leslie Kritzer and Jeff Keller. For the most part, the show deserved these awards. The show has a book by Jerry James, music by Laura l. Kramer, lyrics by Ellen M. Schwartz, and is based on a short story by Lesléa Newman. The story involves a retired kosher butcher (Keller) who takes up a writing class and the relationship that he develops with his writing teacher (Kritzer). In the course of the show, we discover things about both characters in a way that draws a profound parallel between the gay-rights struggle of the 1970s and the Jewish experience in the Holocaust. This may sound ponderous, but Harvey Milk is extraordinarily moving, if a tad flawed in its current form. The characters are charming and sympathetic, and the show works really well when it's heartfelt. It's during the moments of abundant hoary humor that the show sometimes falters, although in this production the masterful performers usually find ways to make even the clumsiest material work. Keller is simply outstanding as Harry Weinberg, the butcher, particularly at the very end of the show when all the story threads come together and we witness a devastating episode from Harry's past. Leslie Kritzer makes for a wonderfully understated but emotionally rich foil for Harry. The score features some remarkably lovely songs, including "Frannie's Hands," in which Harry describes the charms of his late wife. The score goes a tad awry in some of the comic numbers, particularly "Turning the Tables," a number in a Jewish deli, complete with an overdose of hoary Yiddish jokes. Some of the dramatic moments in the show need better setup, and one crucial reveal at the end of the show was met with unintended laughter from the audience the day I saw the show. But, overall, A Letter to Harvey Milk is one of two shows from this year's NYMF (the other being He's Not Himself) that I'm most eager to see advance to the next stage, wherever that might be.
