The creative team behind the new musical Beyond Sight may have their hearts in the right place but their creative juices seem to be sorely missing in action. CRE Outreach, which stands for Create Reflect Empower, “is an effort to empower visually impaired and military veterans through theater” according to Artistic Director Greg Shane’s program notes. But the resultant mess that appears on the stage of the Stella Adler Theatre in Hollywood is lacking any theatricality or finesse. Beyond Sight is often beyond belief.
The book by Nick Sivakumaran and director Jeremy Aldridge is simplistic and overwrought, often at the same time. It tells the story of Jack Carter, a 19 year old college student and ROTC cadet who impulsively enlists (seemingly with his entire ROTC class) after the Twin Towers come down. His squad gets pinned down in a skirmish in Afghanistan and loses a few of their team because of the hotheaded Tyrone who is out to avenge his brother who died on 9/11. During the rescue Jack is blinded by an explosion and subsequently taken prisoner by the Taliban. Flash forward 10 years and Jack is traded for a small bag of undisclosed contents and brought back to NYC where his PTS flashbacks and angry outbursts alienate him from Lily, the girl he left behind, her father the General and ROTC friend Kevin. But after six weeks of therapy and lots of drugs, Jack appears cured and ready for the happy ending.
The music by Mark P. Leonard and Colin Simson is so bombastic and pretentious it makes an Andrew Lloyd Webber score sound understated. The music track is played so loud through Ben Rock’s sound design and the voices of the majority of the cast members are so weak, even wearing head mics, that the lyrics are often unintelligible, which may not be a bad thing. When the lyrics by Shane, Simson and Leonard can be heard they are so pedestrian they are out of mind before ever registering. Raufel Muhammad as Young Jack is the only one of 17 member cast who can really carry a tune with his sweet R&B vocal style. Robert Smith, who has been blind since birth, plays Jack in the second act and is one note—loud and angry. I’m going to spare the rest of the cast and not mention their names to protect the guilty from the embarrassment of their lack of acting/singing/dancing talents. Speaking of dancing, Allison Bibicoff’s choreography is a mixture of the excesses of Tommy Tune’s slap happy routines from The Will Rogers Follies and your worst nightmares from PE class with a touch of hip hop. Performed by men in uniform, it just looks silly. Aldridge’s direction does keep his cast from bumping into each other, most of the time. This show gets a B+ for intention and an F for execution.
(photos by Michael Lamont)
Stella Adler Theatre, 6773 Hollywood Blvd. 2nd floor, in Hollywood. Ends May 25. 310-902-8220 or www.creoutreach.org