‘FLOYD COLLINS’: (collage, left): Jeremy Jordan & (collage, right) Lizzy McAlpine & Jeremy Jordan. Photos: Joan Marcus.

FLOYD COLLINS
Book by Tina Landau
Music & lyrics by Adam Guetell
Directed by Tina Landau
Through June 22, 2025
Lincoln Center Theatre
at the Vivian Beaumont
150 West 65^th Street
https://www.lct.org/

By Scott Harrah

A century ago in 1925, the news of a cave explorer trapped in Mammoth Cave in Kentucky became a media sensation. This true story is the basis for the narrative of the Broadway musical Floyd Collins.  The show was originally produced off Broadway in Philadelphia in 1994 and later in New York at Playwrights Horizons in 1996. Now, this latest iteration starring Jeremy Jordan as Floyd has received six Tony Award nominations, including Best Revival of a Musical .

Golden-voiced Jeremy Jordan

Broadway star Jeremy Jordan, with his golden voice and kinetic stage presence, is the perfect actor to bring Floyd Collins to life. The historical saga of a man who went spelunking in a Kentucky cave, hoping to find a new tourist attraction, and ended up pinned 55 feet below ground under a rock is not exactly a recipe for a great musical. Regardless, Mr. Jordan actually makes the concept as riveting and sensational as possible. Mr. Jordan charmed Broadway audiences last year with his Tony-nominated role in The Great Gatsby. As Floyd, he is consistently outstanding with such solo songs as “The Call, “ “And She’d Have Blue Eyes,” and “It Moves.”

Media hasn’t changed much in a century

The show is ultimately a tragedy, and the media circus that surrounds him is, of course, unfortunate but it simply shows that the press a century ago were just as ruthless as they are today. Floyd Collins might remind some of Kander and Ebb’s long-running Broadway phenomenon Chicago simply because it also shows how the media will often sensationalize any unfortunate news story to sell to a voracious public. The second act opens with “Is That Remarkable,” a song about how the media indulges in exploitative journalism. However, while Chicago is a dark yet upbeat musical full of irony and derisive frivolity, Floyd Collins is simply dark.

Floyd’s family, townsfolk & the press

We also meet a number of characters above ground, all of whom are supposedly trying to help Floyd. His younger brother Homer (Jason Gotay) leads the quest to rescue Floyd. His younger sister Nellie (Lizzy McAlpine) is quite concerned about Floyd. She has just been discharged from a mental hospital and is often misunderstood. Nonetheless, she thinks rationally when trying to help her brother and has unique insight about his emotional state.

Marc Kudisch plays Lee, Floyd’s devastated father who has trouble coping with his son’s dangerous situation.  His wife Miss Jane (Jessica Molaskey) is also Floyd’s stepmother, but she spends most of her time trying to console her husband. Local townsfolk include Bee Doyle (Wade McCollum), a land owner who is the first to see that Floyd is trapped in the cave. He is the first one to seek help and eventually he gets quite wrapped up in the rescue attempts, along with Ed Bishop (Clyde Voce), another town cave explorer.

‘FLOYD COLLINS’: Taylor Trensch. Photo: Joan Marcus.

Taylor Trensch plays Skeets, a reporter for the Louisville Courier-Journal. He becomes deeply involved in the story of Floyd Collins and ends up winning a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting. Mr. Tresnch imbues the character of Skeets with a profound sense of concern and altruism. He starts out as simply a newspaper reporter.  Eventually, we see a wonderful arc to the character of Skeets.  He becomes more like a concerned friend of Floyd’s.  It is no surprise that Taylor Trensch has received a Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical Tony nomination.

Book & direction

Writer-director Tina Landau’s book is not always perfect. The characters are all well written, but there is often too little detail about each one’s backstory. As a director, however, Ms. Landau extracts many great performances.

It’s great to see Broadway veteran Marc Kudisch back on stage again as Floyd’s father, Lee. Mr. Kudisch does his best with the limitations of the character and material.

Newcomer Lizzy McAlpine shows a lot of promise as Floyd’s sister Nelly. Ms. McAlpine’s unique vocals can be both high and low, and there is sometimes a country twang heard and that fits the indie folk-style songs in the show.  Jason Gotay is engaging as Homer, Floyd’s baby brother.

It’s no wonder that Floyd Collins received Tony nominations for Best Lighting Design of a Musical (Scott Zielinski and Ruey Horng Sun), Best Sound Design of a Musical (Dan Moses Schreier) and Best Orchestrations (Bruce Coughlin). The Vivian Beaumont stage is gigantic, and in so many productions actors something appear as if they are being “swallowed” by the stage. Yes, there are some rare moments like that in this show, but making 1920s Kentucky look vivid and lively is no easy task. The lighting and sound here is superb. Bruce Couglin has done a splendid job with the orchestrations, and he has added great depth to the score.

The score & vocals

It would be inaccurate to say that Floyd Collins is an uplifting evening of theater. The show is essentially an historical American tragedy, but it’s worth seeing thanks to Adam Guettel’s richly textured music and lyrics. In addition, the performances by Jeremy Jordan and Taylor Trensch are two of the spring’s best.

Published May 11, 2025
Reviewed at press performance on May 10, 2025

‘FLOYD COLLINS’: Jason Gotay & Jeremy Jordan. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘FLOYD COLLINS’: Marc Kudisch & Jessica Molaskey. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘FLOYD COLLINS’: (left to right) Cole Vaughan, Wade McCollum, Clyde Voce & Jason Gotay. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘FLOYD COLLINS’: The cast. Photo: Joan Marcus.

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‘DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES’: Brian D’Arcy James & Kelli O’Hara. Photo: Joan Marcus

DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES
Book by Craig Lucas
Music & lyrics by Adam Guettel
Directed by Michael Greif
Through March 31, 2024
Studio 54
254 West 54th Street
(212-719-1300), https://daysofwineandrosesbroadway.com/

By David NouNou

Having seen newcomers Kelli O’Hara and Brian D’Arcy James perform together in 2002 in the musical adaptation of Sweet Smell of Success, it is hard to imagine that was 22 years ago, and they are now Broadway veterans. Between the two of them they have performed in such shows as Hamilton, The King and I, Into the Woods, and The Pajama Game, just to name a few. After all these years and all the shows they’ve been in, they are now at the top of their game in this musical adaptation of Days of Wine and Roses.

If one is familiar with the 1962 movie of the same name with Lee Remick and Jack Lemmon, now it is set as a musical. The setting is still New York City in the 1960s, Kirsten Arnesen (Kelli O’Hara) and Joe Clay (Brian D’Arcy James) are an ideal couple: they are young, beautiful, career-oriented, and in love. They get married and have a daughter. Seemingly they are the perfect couple. However, their idyllic world is shattered by an addiction called alcoholism. Starting out as social drinkers, they quickly descend into their hellish lives with Joe losing his job, and they both turn to Kristen’s father, Arnesen (Byron Jennings) for financial assistance, only to get themselves in another destructive bender that does irretrievable damage.

Joe tries multiple times to get himself help and climb out of his hell, if for no other reason but to be there for their daughter but Kristen refuses to let go of her demons. It’s a formidable tale of addiction at its most gripping.

Did the show need to be musicalized? Probably not. The book by Craig Lucas is flawless in following the original script of the movie and could have stood by itself. The score by Adam Guettel is so listless and forgettable that the show could have done without this banal score. However, if one wouldn’t have had the score, one would miss the glorious operatic voice of Kelli O’Hara.

Days of Wine and Roses, The Musical survives due to the magnificent performances of its two leads. Kelli O’Hara has never shown such a range of character, emotion and vulnerability in her performances as she is demonstrating here. The term incandescent is so appropriate and her vocalizing is glorious.

Brian D’Arcy James has given numerous wonderful performances. He is a quintessential musical leading man and here, as Ms. O’Hara hits all the emotional notes,  is also demonstrating his vulnerability.

Michael Greif, director of such hits as Dear Evan Hansen, Rent and Next to Normal has hit another high point in his career by extracting and pacing his two leads and having them give the performances of their careers.

Coming out you will miss the beautiful melodic and haunting 1962 Oscar winning song “The Days of Wine and Roses” by Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer, but you will also come out remembering the performances of Kelli O’Hara and Brian D’Arcy James.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published February 21, 2024
Reviewed at February 20, 2024 performance.

‘DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES’: Brian D’Arcy James & Kelli O’Hara. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES’: Brian D’Arcy James & Kelli O’Hara. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES’: Kelli O’Hara & Brian D’Arcy James. Photo: Joan Marcus.

The post ‘Days of Wine and Roses’: Stars at top of game appeared first on StageZine.