“Rules are made to be broken” could be this year’s Broadway motto as exemplified by a trio of successful rogue productions. Unconventional in style and content, one is a teen angst musical that parodies teen angst musicals, the next is an album-turned-stage-show and the last is a play that began as a speech. All the productions have taken an untraditional road to The Great White Way and have a vast cult following. Come join the cult!  

Hadestown is the new stage adaptation of the 2010 folk-rock album by Anais Mitchell. It tells of Hades (elegantly macabre Best Actor Musical Tony nominee Patrick Page) who is feeling his underworld threatened. So he holds a rally where he sings to his enslaved factory workers that he’s building a wall, “… to keep us free, keep out the enemy, poverty — because we have and they have not. That’s why we build the wall!”

This song is just one of the many prescient messages contained in this emotionally-charged masterwork which combines two Greek tragedies: the newfound lovers Orpheus (Reeve Carney) and the deceased Eurydice (Tony nominee for Best Actress in a Musical, Eva Noblezada) – and the Lord of the Underworld, King Hades and his often absent wife, Persephone (Best Featured Actress in a Musical Tony nominee Amber Gray). Mitchell’s tale has Orpheus descending into Hell to rescue his fiancée from the jealous Hades. Orpheus’s secret weapon is a love song so powerful that it can conquer death itself.

The result is the most celebrated musical of the season with 14 Tony nominations, including Best Musical.  

With a Tony-nominated Sound Design (Nevin Steinberg and Jessica Paz) it’s a sung-through piece told through 32 mesmeric songs. The score is a musical gumbo of Cajun, blue-grass, rockabilly, soul — you name it. Hadestown is an immersive experience that captures you from the moment you enter to see the French Quarter set and the diverse ensemble of street performers (featuring Yvette Gonzales-Nacer and Kay Trinidad as the bewitching Fates). All party as they prepare to guide Orpheus (and us) to Hadestown. 

Celebrating the circle of life and death, audiences will recognize the many cultural correlations to Día de los Muertos. And because death is part of our humanity, death itself is human – capable of humor, revenge, and compassion. Hadestown is a haunting and hopeful theatrical journey that will forever capture your imagination – and soul. (Hadestown photos by Matthew Marcus). www.hadestown.com

Be More Chill asks, “What if popularity came in a pill? Would you take it, no questions asked?”

Uber-geek Jeremy Heere (played with sublime loserhood by Will Roland) takes that step in hopes of achieving the elusive “perfect life” now that it’s possible thanks to some mysterious new pharmaceutical. But it comes at a cost that’s not as easy to swallow. His enthralling predicament sets the teen angst story on its ear by blending Little Shop of Horrors with Dear Evan Hansen into a contemporary thriller-meets-retro-sci-fi pop musical.

It’s an exciting, comically subversive, and deeply felt new work that addresses the competing voices in the teenage mind. And ultimately proves, there’s never been a better time to be yourself-especially if you’re a loser or geek — or both.

Before arriving in New York, Be More Chill, had already amassed an unprecedented online following with millions of “Chill-Heads” worldwide sharing fan art, streaming the album (over 170 million streams to date), and chatting about the show. In 2017, Tumblr ranked Be More Chill as the second most talked-about musical on its platform, following Hamilton. The attention is well-deserved with a Tony nomination for Best Score, composer Joe Iconis has delivered the perfect blend of the pop-meets-Broadway score.

This is a good trick as most rock/pop scores lack clarity of lyrics and scene development. Iconis demonstrates a deep understanding of the musical structure, yet never lets theatrical convention get in the way of a fresh take on a familiar theme such as the song, “Michael in the Bathroom.” It’s a teen anthem about locking yourself in the bathroom at a party after losing your best friend to the chill pill as sung by Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle nominee for Best Featured Actor in a Musical, George Salazar who plays Michael. The score to Be More Chill is my favorite of the year, chock full of energetic and surprising songs. I can’t be chill about how much I loved Be More Chill. (Be More Chill photos by Maria Baranova).      www.bemorechillmusical.com

What The Constitution Means To Me is by far this season’s most relevant and dare I say, most important play as many parallels can be drawn between the narrative and our current administration’s stance toward immigrants, people of color and most of all – women.  

Based on the real-life of writer-performer Heidi Schreck, the action starts decades ago in a wood-paneled, mid-century American Legion Hall. The high walls of the windowless room are completely covered with stern portraits of white military men all looking down at then 15-year-old Heidi. These men and the evening’s proctor, another uniformed male, will watch and judge Heidi’s discourse making sure she sticks to the topic, doesn’t overstep her boundaries and doesn’t go over her allotted time as she delivers her award-winning speech on “What the Constitution Means to Me.” 

It begins innocently enough – but over the next 100 intermissionless minutes, Schreck becomes increasingly more impassioned as age brings wisdom and she moves forward in time recounting four generations of female oppression within her own family – and how the founding document controlled their rights and citizenship. She tells of her great-grandmother, a European mail-order bride who suffered spousal abuse, only to give birth to another generation of females destined to experience gender inequality. 

Yet, the evening does not get maudlin as Ms. Shreck’s history is replete with poignant punchlines that underscore the multitude of ironies womenkind has endured. Still, though Ms. Schreck is charming and her discourse is filled with jocularity, her play is an angry protest, a catastrophe told via a comedy. Her message is clear: even in this day and age, if you are not a wealthy, white, male landowner like the framers of the Constitution – you are its likely victim. All our social advances, new rights, and freedoms are potentially threatened by a murky document that is left to the interpretation by a panel appointed by the powerful. If this seems dark – it is. But Ms. Schreck expresses hope for our complex document as is demonstrated by the night’s closing scene: an actual debate between herself and a girl teenager, who, like she once did, has won a similar “What the Constitution Means to Me” speech-writing contest.

Watching a young mind apply our 232-year-old list of commandments to their contemporary life is thrilling. You realize that perhaps the document’s lack of definition might be its most enduring asset: in the right hands, it can, indeed, be that great equalizer — that living breathing document so vital for a living breathing America. (What The Constitution Means photos by Joan Marcus). constitutionbroadway.com

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Three new shows are glittering examples of evolving genres within the American musical: the adventure musical fueled by advances in real-time robotics; the concert/bio-musical; and the film-to-stage adaptation. 

King, Kong, the iconic cinematic allegory on how “beauty killed the beast,” is being brought to roaring life on Broadway through a spellbinding mix of robotics, puppetry, music, and stagecraft. Winner of a Special Tony Honor for puppet design by Sonny Tilders, this 35-million dollar monster hit stars a 20-foot-high, 2,000-pound silverback gorilla whose lifelike face can express a terrifying and heartbreaking range of emotion. 

Following the original plot of the 1933 film, we meet the fearless young Ann Darrow (the perfect Christiani Pitts), an actress desperate for a break. She’s convinced by a mad-genius director that she’ll become his new action star by hopping onto a boat and sailing with him to uncharted Skull Island where they discover the magnificent King Kong. To her surprise, Ann finds an unexpected kindred spirit in this regal, untamable creature. 

Ultimately, Darrow’s charm and beauty lure Kong away from his mysterious island kingdom to another island — Manhattan. But Kong violently escapes his captors and climbs the Empire State Building where he bids farewell to Ann (and life) as, despite her cries to spare him, the mighty King Kong is shot by airplanes and falls to his death. All the action I’ve described, including a fierce and bloody battle between Kong and a giant python snake on Skull Island, is masterfully executed before your very eyes.

Succinctly put: King Kong is Broadway’s first action musical. A thrill ride of a spectacle that heralds a new kind of storytelling. Kong’s voice, facial gestures and body motion are all created live from his control both in the theater, so, like the actors, he is interacting at the moment. Locations and action are created via an enormous LCD screen that seamlessly transports the fast moving scenes from the gritty streets of Depression Era New York, to Kong’s secret lair, to the top of the Empire State building. The music, by  Marius de Vries (La La Land) and Eddie Perfect (Beetlejuice The Musical), is smartly incorporated into the plot as Ann is a singer-actor whose sweet singing voice helps tame Kong during their most desperate moments. King Kong is the perfect blend of technology and allegory – rife with possibilities. It’s suitable for young audiences with a profound message about conquest, man’s inhumanity to nature and the power of love. (King Kong photos by Joan Marcus & Matthew Murphy)  kingkongbroadway.com

The Cher Show is a thrilling bio-musical/rock concert that recounts the unabashed life and times of the title’s enduring diva. So enduring is this rock goddess’s bombastic career that it takes no less than three very talented women (led by Tony-nominee for Best Actress in a Musical, Stephanie J. Block) to portray Cher through her various phases. She is the little girl teased for her ethnic looks who vows to become famous, Sonny Bono’s  subordinate (teen-age!) hippy-wife who turns phenom and crashes by twenty, theglam TV star who quits at the top, the would-be actress with an Oscar, the rock goddess with a hundred million records sold, the legend who’s done it all, still scared to walk on stage and the cult phenomenon looking for love. She is the ultimate survivor, chasing her dream dressed to kill in Bob Mackie‘s Tony-nominated costumes all wrapped in a very unconventional musical entertainment. For just like Cher herself, the show bearing her name also defies categorization. 

This thrilling Vegas meets Broadway song-and-dance spectacular explores defining moments in Cher’s adventurous life, via a dazzling light show (by Tony-nominated Kevin Adams) and choreography by Christopher Gattelli. These are set to the singer’s chart-topping hits, including “If I Could Turn Back Time,” “Believe,” “I Got You Babe,” “Strong Enough,” “Half-Breed,” “I Found Someone,” “A Different Kind of Love Song,” “Take Me Home,” and “Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves.” And behind all the flash is a deeply moving narrative of an extraordinary and sensitive artist who, just by staying true to herself, pioneered a unique and powerful female presence in the recording, TV and film industries. 

The Cher Show is a joyous theatrical event that celebrates anyone who’s ever had a dream or dared to be different. (The Cher Show photos by Joan Marcus)  thechershowbroadway.com

Pretty Woman is part of the new genre of romcom-musicals based on films soon headed to Broadway, which include:  Mrs. Doubtfire, The Devil Wears Prada, Moulin Rouge, Beaches, The Bodyguard, Bull Durham and Some Like It Hot. Let’s hope they’re all as romantic and entertaining as Pretty Woman. This gritty and hopeful tuner, based on the iconic 1990 film, follows the original screenplay (directed by the late Gary Marshall), but with a contemporary feminist agenda. This is a miracle in itself. I mean, who would believe that Cinderella worked Hollywood Boulevard as a conscientious hooker with aspirations of finding her prince and leaving behind her life of ill repute? After all, she insists she sells her body, not her soul and she doesn’t kiss on the lips. Stands to reason, no?

Actually, it does, at least to this reviewer, and in no small part because of Samantha Barks (Vivian) and Andy Karl (Edward) who make us believe in their unlikely romance. Bolstering the cast is the delightfully sarcastic Orfeh as Kit and the mighty morphing Brian Cali as both a smarmy street-hustler and stuffy hotel manager. A hilarious Tommy Bracco, the bellhop Guilio, provides physical comedy and shows off some fancy footwork. Supporting cast members Nico De Jesus, Renee Marino, Ellyn Marie Marsh and Jennifer Sanchez play everything from streetwalkers to snooty sales associates.  

Jerry Mitchel (Kinky Boots) provides slick direction and the energetic Latin, jazz and ballroom choreography. A bouncy 80’s pop-rock score gives us upbeat ensemble numbers (“Welcome to Hollywood”) and insightful solos (“I Can’t Go Back”) that define the character and briskly move along the plot. Faithful to the screenplay, all your favorite scenes are here: the couples’ flirtatious meeting, the fashion make-over and the highlight of the musical, their night at the opera. Costume designer Gregg Barnes dutifully delivers that gorgeous red gown that fans will remember. In this scene, Pretty Woman The Musical outperforms the film. Underscored by a dreamlike aria from La Traviata, the moment when two souls realize they’re a couple is beautifully portrayed.    

In this day and age of the “#MeToo” movement, you might think that Pretty Woman would hit a feminist nerve now and then. However, Vivian has the upper hand this time around. It is clearly her show. She’s the savior of this misguided, emotionally-troubled, corporate-raiding prince. She’s the catalyst that brings to life both their dreams. Yes, he saves her, but she saves him “right back.” Standing center stage, this Pretty Woman didn’t leave me missing Roy Orbison’s hit song one bit. (Pretty Woman photos by Matthew Murphy)

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By Cris Franco

Two remarkable revivals are now running on Broadway. Both are startling new takes on familiar properties; productions so daring and different they are better described as magnificent re-imaginings. 

Oklahoma!, Tony-nominated for Best Musical Revival, has recreated Rogers and Hammerstein’s folksy chestnut about young love on the open plains of 1900. Now set in a timeless American landscape, a small country western band on a bare thrust-stage accompanies the 12-person ethnically diverse cast in this shockingly-contemporary and completely “woke” production. Scores of ominous gunracks are mounted throughout the theater, some scenes are played in complete darkness, and huge “night vision” video projections punctuate the antagonist’s mental breakdown. This brazen approach has garnered both praise and condemnation by R&H purists who question the artistic liberties taken by Tony-nominated for Director Daniel Fish, in his bold new Oklahoma! 

But it’s these jarring devices lead us to go beyond the tuneful tale and get under the skin of the determined (and violent) nature behind the dogged pioneers who trailblazed the Oklahoma Territory in America’s quest to stretch from “sea to shining sea!” An extraordinary complement of players takes us on this uncharted journey, but of special note is Best Supporting Musical Actress Tony-nominee Ali Stroker, in the role of the flirtatious Ado Annie. Although in a wheelchair, she delivers a humorous, vocally-rich and sensual performance. 

All your favorite songs are here, but from the opening number Curly’s moody rendition of “Beautiful Mornin’” seems to welcome us to a wilder time and place where unbridled desire and ambition rule. Later, the womenfolk advocate resisting settling down to the tune of “Many a New Day” as they aggressively husk, break and, in essence castrating ears of fresh corn. But the most notable artistic stroke is the emotionally-raw solo dream ballet by African-American dancer (the mesmerizing, shaved-head Gabrielle Hamilton in a spangled t-shirt reading only, “Dream baby dream.” Everything is infused with a dark rich subtext that makes you wonder if you ever really saw Oklahoma! before. So evocative is this interpretation that it will color every Oklahoma! you’ll ever see again. This production gets this reviewer’s highest recommendation.  oklahomabroadway.com

Fiddler on the Roof is one of the most-often produced theatrical properties since its Broadway debut in 1964. The tale of Tevye the milkman has been presented on amateur and professional stages in numerous languages worldwide. (In Latin America it’s known as El Violinista en el Tejado). A story of love and loss, tradition and change, adversity and faith, community and exile, filled with wondrous songs that have entered the lexicon of the American musical. Director Joel Grey found how to reinvent this perfect classic. In Yiddish! Who knew? 

Based on a translation by Shraga Friedman, this powerful production by the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene beams with a renewed strength, taking us back to that Russian shtetl in a language both new to the audience and of a very distant past. All dialogue and lyrics are projected in English on either side of the simple set. You’d think seeing a play in a foreign tongue would alienate the non-Yiddish speaking viewer – but the effect is quite the opposite. Because we all know the story so well, the Yiddish rhythms create the most authentic and intimate Fiddler this reviewer has ever seen.   

The characters, the jokes, and the songs are reborn in this ancient tongue. “Traditsye” (“Tradition”), that sets the story and introduces the characters. “Ven Ikh Bin a Rothshild” (“If I Were a Rich Man”) giving Tevye a chance to dream of escaping his poverty. The melancholy “Tog-ayn, Tog-oys” (“Sunrise, Sunset”) left not a dry eye in the house. The spiritually uplifting ballad “Shabes Brokhe” (“Sabbath Prayer”) and the exuberant celebration of life “Lakhayim” (“To Life”) in Yiddish brought these scenes to life in a revelatory manner.  

Heading the cast of talented bilingual actors is the brooding yet charming Steven Skybell, as Tevye who brings a heartfelt truth to lines like, “God, I know we are the chosen people, but once in a while can’t You choose somebody else?” Skybell (this year’s Lortel Award-winner for Outstanding Actor in a Musical) lovingly guides the story until the crushing culmination when the Russian pogrom expels the townsfolk from Anatevka. Though defeated, we see in this devastating tragedy the concept come full circle as a tribe packs and transports their traditions and language across the Atlantic. It’s an inspiring realization. This Fiddler on the Roof is not to be missed.      https://nytf.org/fiddler-on-the-roof/

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