Now, on to Brooklyn.
I have to admit up front, it's not my kind of show. I'm not a fan of the American Idol kind of singing that seems to have taken over the marketplace. The songs and singers play to that style throughout the show. That being said, I did find some good things about the production.
Unfortunately, the book of the show is not one of the good things/strong points in the show. It is trite and hackneyed and sometimes just flat out bad. There are glimmers of good writing, such as a short monologue by "Paradice" the evil diva songstress of the show about how she was created by the American public and her "effect" on the morals of society. Very powerful, especially considering the outcome of the election on Tuesday, but the good parts are buried under some groaningly bad dialogue and a silly "fairytale" aspect of the plot.
The strongest element of the show is the performance. Across the board, the five characters have strong talent and are able to rise above the workmanlike direction to stand out in individual numbers. Cleavant Derricks, who hasn't been on Broadway since Dreamgirls, is dynamite as a narrator/streetsinger/overall presence. Eden Espinosa as Brooklyn is a great talent. She was in Wicked, playing Nessarose and also understudied Elphaba. Even though Cleavant Derricks gets the final bow, it's her show.
As much as I enjoyed the performances, I have to say the vocal pyrotechnics did get a little tiresome at times. The show runs 1:45 minutes without an intermission and at 9:15 I made the mistake of glancing at my watch and thinking, Oh, my God, what are they going to do for another half-hour?
That's the biggest problem with the show, IMHO (in my humble opinion). It's all over the place with the bad book, just adequate direction, music that runs the gamut from great showpiece for a performer to ear-splitting for no apparent reason. There are standout moments which are then followed by exposition and staging that just grinds the show to a halt.
The show has an audience (granted there was paper in the house last night) but still as I was leaving the theatre I overheard many positive comments about the show. The audience also had many teenagers and young adults (the future of the American Musical Theatre) who seemed to love the show. I hope (and wish) that they are interested in all genres of musical theatre, not just the "cutting edge", new rock synthesized pieces which seem to also be the future of American Musical Theatre.
Well, that's enough about Brooklyn. I am glad I saw the show, though it won't be a repeat for me. I wonder how long it will last. I know that Off-Broadway is not a commercially viable outlet in many cases, but it might have done better and would last longer in one of the Dodger Theatrical spaces (the Off-Broadway complex which has opened in the basement of a new building in midtown) or some similar venue.
Now, on to other topics.
