Street Lights (The SOB Overview) – American Theatre of Actors (Chernuchin Theatre), New York, New YorkHow’s this for a hot new musical?
A hip-hop show all about hope that itself is brimming with promise. That’s the effusive charm of
Joe Drymala’s
Street Lights.
Overflowing with more substantive radio-ready tunes per show than any recent musical in memory, his infectious score is beyond exciting. With a potent mix of pop, R&B, hip-hop and rap, each song is like tapping into a forbidden power source with most providing an unexpected surge of electrifying empowerment. It doesn’t matter that I can’t get the tunes out of my head -- I don’t want to.
For the sake of the
New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF), Drymala has clearly focused maximum energy on developing a megawatt score, and it shows. That attention comes at the expense of his book, which still needs some work in order to flow seamlessly. Nevertheless, the themes -- centering on Harlem high school students, including two gifted young siblings with the requisite faith they need to make something of their lives -- radiate enormous potential for the future life of this show.
More than realizing her potential is the self-assured
Carla Duren, delivering a heart-shattering performance as Monique Willis. As a vocal powerhouse, Duren is remarkably believable as an immensely talented young singer yearning to be the next
Alicia Keys.
Same goes for the magnetic
Kevin Curtis as her brother Rocky, a high school senior who has his eyes on becoming the next
Thurgood Marshall. His ebullient joy upon learning he’s been accepted into Georgetown is about as close as this show comes to a true show-stopping hit. Curtis’ “yes we can” enthusiasm is downright contagious.
But hope as Monique and Rocky might, their dreams risk being jeopardized by their individual associations with a charismatic drug dealer named Damon Cruz, portrayed by the mesmerizing
Miguel Jarquin-Moreland. Monique and Rocky learn just how dangerous it can be to play with fire.
Street Lights unabashedly and unapologetically wears its progressive politics transparently on its sleeve -- so much so that it often veers close to becoming overly preachy and even heavy-handed. You can chalk Drymala’s wild-eyed yet earnest passion for activism up to his experience as primary speechwriter for former Democrat National Committee Chairman
Howard Dean’s presidential campaign. That explains the few gratuitous digs at the former president. Regardless of one’s politics, there’s an admirable, if slightly naïve, call to action to overcome any obstacle, no matter how formidable.
While the
Ryan J. Davis-helmed
Street Lights has already concluded its brief NYMF run, these lights won’t dim completely. With San Diego’s
Old Globe Theatre already picking up the show for a Left Coast production, I expect to hear eventual raves on how a much further developed and tightened
Street Lights is shining brighter than ever and keeping hope alive for a return engagement in New York.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: Carla Duren, Joe Drymala, Kevin Curtis, Miguel Jarquin-Moreland, Musical, New York City, Old Globe Theatre, Ryan J. Davis, Street Lights, The SOB Overview
Broadway Preview: The American PlanAs
noted last week, Tony-winning playwright
Richard Greenberg will be represented on Broadway twice during the 2008-09 Theatrical Season.
First comes
Pal Joey at the
Roundabout's
Studio 54 this November; Greenberg will supply a new book for this classic tuner. Then, in early January comes the Broadway premiere of
The American Plan, which enjoyed its
West Coast premiere earlier this year at San Diego's
Old Globe Theatre.
The play is included as part of the new Broadway season for the
Manhattan Theatre Club's (MTC)
Biltmore Theatre, with previews beginning January 2, 2009 and opening night set for January 22, 2009. Helmed by Tony-winning director
David Grindley, the limited run is scheduled through March 15.
While casting is yet to be announced, MTC
provides a rather veiled description:
An exciting new look at an early, acclaimed play by the Tony Award-winning author of Take Me Out. It is the Catskill Mountains in the early 1960s, and Lily Adler and her mother Eva are spending the summer across the lake from a bustling hotel where comics entertain and buffets overflow. When a handsome young stranger enters their world, the emotionally fragile Lily finds herself falling in love. But once her imperious mother learns of their relationship, lies are exposed, alliances are forged and Lily's one chance to escape her mother's control may be lost forever. Playwright Richard Greenberg continues his long association with MTC where his other New York premieres have included The Violet Hour, Three Days of Rain and Eastern Standard.
In fact, it was only after taking a look at the Old Globe's information that I found
much more intriguing details:
Tony Award-winning playwright Richard Greenberg (Take Me Out, Three Days of Rain) is considered one of the American theatre’s greatest living playwrights. The American Plan is his funny and intriguing look at deeply rooted double standards of America in the early 1960s. Set in an idyllic Catskills lake retreat, The American Plan tells the tale of an elegant and imperious German-Jewish refugee mother, her eccentric daughter who strains against her domineering mother’s tight leash, and the young, mysterious man who enters their lives.
For more background on the play's setting, check out the Old Globe's exceptional
Program Notes, which provides insights on how the Catskill Mountains became known as “Borscht Belt" -- a preferred vacation spot for Jews in the mid-1900s.
I'm a huge fan of Greenberg's work and as a subscriber to the MTC, I'll be anxious to take in this work.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Related Stories:Broadway Preview: Shrek The Musical (July 13, 2008)
Broadway Preview: Waiting For Godot (July 12, 2008)
Broadway Preview: Pal Joey (July 11, 2008)
Broadway Preview: Dividing The Estate (July 10, 2008)
Broadway Preview: 13 (July 9, 2008)
Broadway Preview: Speed-The-Plow (July 8, 2008)
Broadway Preview: Billy Elliot - The Musical (July 7, 2008)
Broadway Preview: Godspell (July 6, 2008)
Broadway Preview: All My Sons (July 5, 2008)
Broadway Preview: A Man For All Seasons (July 3, 2008)
Broadway Preview: To Be Or Not To Be (July 2, 2008)
Broadway Preview: The Seagull (July 1, 2008)
Broadway Preview: Equus (June 30, 2008)
Broadway Preview: A Tale Of Two Cities (June 28, 2008)
Broadway Preview: for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf (June 25, 2008)
Broadway Preview: [title of show] (June 24, 2008)
Broadway: What's Next (June 20, 2008)
Broadway Estate Planning (March 17, 2008)
Labels: David Grindley, First Word On New Show, Manhattan Theatre Club, Old Globe Theatre, Play, Richard Greenberg, The American Plan
Wildfires Force Closure Of La Jolla And Old Globe TheatresOn the Left Coast, the tragic news consuming the media is the voracious wildfires burning out of control.
According to separate
Playbill stories, both the
La Jolla Playhouse (which is currently dark) and the
Old Globe Theatres (currently home to the Broadway-bound
A Catered Affair) are closed.
Apparently, while the fires are not currently posing a direct threat to either beloved theatre, the La Jolla Playhouse staff was evacuated yesterday and office remain closed today. Performances at the Old Globe for this evening were cancelled.
It's my understanding that due to road closures and appeals to keep routes open to emergency traffic, everything from
schools to parks in the San Diego area have closed. Emergency officials are asking for food and water for evacuees and told those still in their homes to cut electrical use so the power grid is not strained.
Wildfires have already destroyed an
estimated 1,300 homes and threaten another 72,000.
To learn more about what
you can do to help, click
here.
My thoughts and prayers are with everyone in San Diego, as well as throughout Southern California.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: A Catered Affair, California, Cancellation, La Jolla Playhouse, Old Globe Theatre, San Diego, Wildfires
