‘MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG’: (left to right) Daniel Radcliffe, Jonathan Groff & Lindsay Mendez. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG
Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by George Furth
Directed by Maria Friedman
Hudson Theatre
141 West 44th Street
www.MerrilyonBroadway.com

By David NouNou

It is easy to see why Merrily We Roll Along was savaged by critics and bombed when it opened on November 16, 1981. It used up its advance sales on 44 previews and lasted only 16 performances. It was to be a Stephen Sondheim vehicle with a no-name cast; “just Sondheim” as its selling point. This was before he was a deity. It failed on so many levels.

It lacked the grandiosity of his 1979 Sweeney Todd, or the majesty of 1976’s Pacific Overtures, or the beauty of 1973’s A Little Night Music, or the extravaganza of 1971’s Follies or the brilliance of 1970’s Company. Merrily We Roll Along was a dreary musical about three friends examining their lives in 1978 and going backwards in time to 1957 when they first met in their prime. It lacked any sets; the costumes were made up of jeans, khakis and T-Shirts with the character’s names on it. I guess because the cast was so lackluster, it was the only way the audience could identify them. Its failure was also due to the feeling of detachment from the musical itself and its characters. In 1981, audiences wanted to feel empathy for their characters and Merrily just didn’t give them that. Another blow came in the form of Michael Bennett’s explosive razzle-dazzle Dreamgirls, loosely based on the formation of the musical group Diana Ross and the Supremes. There was plenty of attachment and empathy there. The choice was simple: It came down to dreary or razzle-dazzle.

Merrily has developed a cult following over the years. With songs like the bouncy “Old Friends,”  and the haunting “Not a Day Goes By,” the musical started picking up steam. Fast forward to 2023: Sondheim is a deity now. You’ve got three leads that are big names, full of charm, charisma and audience visibility/connection. It’s a fully mounted production with a multi-functional set and costumes galore. The detachment that failed in 1981 works wonderfully for the age we live in now. However, it is Maria Friedman’s visionary direction that has reshaped a dreary musical into a full-blown, knockout production.

Having Daniel Radcliffe (Charley Kringas), Jonathan Groff (Franklin Shepard) and Lindsay Mendez (Mary Flynn) has given this musical a luster that it desperately needed. It is 1976 in Franklin Shepard’s Bel-Air mansion with all the phonies and sycophants surrounding him and extolling him. He is a producer now; he has left his roots of composing music for the glamour of Hollywood and all its pretentiousness. He is on his second marriage to theatrical actress, Gussie Carnegie (Krystal Joy Brown). She divorced Broadway producer, Joe Josephson (Jeremy Kushner), who produced Franklin and Charlie’s first musical hit, Musical Husbands.

Also at the party is a second member of the original trio, Mary Flynn, who has always been in love with Franklin but he has always been blind to it. She has written a bestseller and has now become a critic. Also, she loves her liquor. She is the mirror that Franklin has to look into to see what he has turned into; not the brilliant composer he always wanted to be. He is a success as a moneymaker, but a total failure as a man, a friend, a husband, and a father.

Moving backwards in time to 1973 at NBC Studios in Manhattan, Charley Kringas is awaiting the arrival of his composing partner and friend Franklin for an interview, but instead Franklin is late due to another venture of moneymaking. They are asked what it is like to be working together, and Charlie interrupts by “if I may…” and sings “Franklin Shepard, Inc.,” the showstopping number of the show, which incidentally sounds much like the style and tempo of “I’m Not Getting Married Today” from Sondheim’s Company.

Going further back to 1967, a courthouse where Beth Shepard (Katie Rose Clarke) is divorcing Frank and he asks her if she still loves him, and she sings the heart-wrenching “Not A Day Goes By.” End of Act I.

Act II is the weaker of the two. It starts in 1964 with Franklin and Charley’s first huge success, and keeps moving backward to 1960 when they formed their first revue at a downtown club in New York City where Beth auditions for them and Frank ends up proposing to her, until it’s finally 1957 on an NYC rooftop where the trio (Franklin, Charley and Mary) first meet, and sing about their bright future which is ahead of them in the song “Our Time.”

The musical was problematic from the onset. It had a difficult book to navigate through and the characters were most unlikable in its original formation—a no-no in musical comedy. However, over the years the book has been revised a few times, and there is no overlooking Daniel Radcliffe, Jonathan Groff and Lindsay Mendez. They are the oomph this show so desperately needs. Their charisma and charm make you overlook a lot of their character flaws and that’s perfectly okay, because everyone is flawed in some form or another. They work in harmonious sync. They complement each other’s performances. This is a tremendous asset to this complicated show. They smooth out the wrinkles and give it an easy flow.

In addition to Maria Friedman’s excellent direction, there is the sublime live orchestra—not pre-recorded tracks that are used in so many musicals today to cut costs—conducted by Joel Fram, and the divine orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick carry this musical into melody heaven. This is how you take a flop, reimagine it, cast it with a splendid trio, and turn it into an incredible memorable revival.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published October 23, 2023
Reviewed at October 22, 2023 press performance.

‘MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG’: Katie Rose Clarke & Jonathan Groff. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

‘MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG’: (left to right) Reg Rogers, Katie Rose Clarke, Jonathan Groff, Daniel Radcliffe & Lindsay Mendez. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

‘MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG’: The cast. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

‘MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG’: Krystal Joy Brown & Jonathan Groff. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

‘MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG’: (left to right) Daniel Radcliffe, Jonathan Groff, Reg Rogers
& Krystal Joy Brown. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

‘MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG’: (left to right) Krystal Joy Brown, Reg Rogers, Natalie Wachen & cast. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

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‘MISS SAIGON’: Eva Noblezada & Devin Ilaw. Photo: Matthew Murphy

MISS SAIGON
Adapted from the original French text by Alain Boublil
Music by Claude-Michel Schönberg
Lyrics by Richard Maltby, Jr. & Alain Boublil
Directed by Laurence Conner
Musical Staging by Bob Avian
Broadway Theatre
1681 Broadway at 53rd Street
212-238-6200, wwwSaigonBroadway.com

By David NouNou

In the 1960s, America had the British rock invasion: The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, etc. In the 1980s and 1990s we had the Cameron Mackintosh invasion: Cats, Starlight Express, Les Misérables, Phantom of the Opera and Miss Saigon. Damn, that’s impressive, and Broadway deservedly welcomed him with open arms. He singlehandedly turned a dying Broadway into a booming, bustling Broadway with the aid of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Schönberg and Boublil.

That being said, I must now specifically concentrate on Miss Saigon. In 1991 it came to Broadway with the largest advance in history to date, the tale that a helicopter lands on stage (Americans love special effects) and a lot of controversy regarding casting. I salute Mr. Mackintosh in his stand to bring Jonathan Pryce and Lea Salonga in their roles that they originated in London, for which they ultimately won Tony Awards for best actor and actress, because without them the show would not have been as powerful and impactful.

Fast forward to 2017: Seeing Miss Saigon again might seem awesome at first thought but sadly for me (and I’m sure for most Americans who see it), it’s a shameful reminder of our past history and the atrocities that took place during the Vietnam War. Unlike the epic grandeur of Les Misérables with its glorious and memorable score and beautifully etched-out characters, Miss Saigon is epic visually but very thin on story line. It is basically Madame Butterfly set during the Vietnam War.

Chris (Alistair Brammer), an American G.I. stationed in Vietnam, falls in love with the 17-year- old Vietnamese bar girl, Kim (Eva Noblezada) who is under the thumbs and controlled by the Engineer (Jon Jon Briones), a man who has big dreams of coming to the USA and using his entrepreneurial skills to make it big in America. You know the rest.

The score by Boublil and Schönberg never lives up to the magnificence of Les Misérables. With the exception of “The Last Night of the World” a sweet ballad sung by Kim and Chris, the haunting “I’d Give My Life For You,” sung by Kim, and the Engineer’s rousing delusional tribute “The American Dream,” the rest of the score is undistinguished. The sensation of the show back then was the helicopter scene; now the best thing about that is the landing in which wind machines blast air onto the orchestra to simulate a helicopter landing with lots of people clamoring to get on and the taking off is like watching the headlights and front of a Volkswagen Beetle ascending.

For Mr. Mackintosh, casting is most essential. He brought Mr. Pryce as the Engineer, a role that is sinister, evil, calculating and a lowlife. He’d do anything and sacrifice anyone just to save his hide. Mr. Pryce played that part to perfection, and at the end you were cheering for him. As for Jon Jon Briones as the Engineer, I honestly have no idea what he is conveying. The closet character I could think of was a sleazy version of the parrot, Jose Carioca, in the 1943 Disney animated movie Saludos Amigos; totally lacking in personality, charisma and style, nothing that would suggest sinister, just plain smarmy and weasely.

Ms. Noblezada is enchanting as Kim, but Mr. Brammer lacks the passion that tortures Chris for having left Kim behind. Honorable mention must be made to Katie Rose Clark as Ellen, Chris’ wife, and Nicholas Christopher as John, Chris’ war buddy and friend. Another standout is Rachelle Ann Go as the prostitute Gigi, with her lush, haunting voice.

From a visual standpoint, this version of Miss Saigon is grimy and gritty.  Its direction by Laurence Connor is listless and aimless, no real vision or structure to it. It is so dimly lit that it is hard to distinguish if there ever was any daylight in Saigon. I saw this production in London in 2015 at the Prince Edward Theatre and there were talks back then that Miss Saigon would be transferring to Broadway. I knew that to make this move, better choices had to be made in direction and casting, especially for the Engineer.  The Engineer has to be able to hold up this giant behemoth of a musical. It wasn’t Mr. Briones then in the U.K. production and time has not improved him. Smarmy and pandering to the audience is not a real interpretation for the Engineer. Certainly better, tighter and more disciplined direction is needed than what Mr. Connor has provided.

It is not impossible to sell a historical musical that once lived for the helicopter gimmick; however, it is harder to sell when you have a musical with unfamiliar names, especially this season when there are stars in many of the shows currently playing. You can still sell a historical musical with no names if it is brilliantly conceived, directed and acted. Case in point: Come From Away—highly recommended.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published March 29, 2017
Reviewed at press performance on March 28, 2017

‘MISS SAIGON’: Jon Jon Briones. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘MISS SAIGON’: Katie Rose Clarke & Alistair Brammer. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘MISS SAIGON’: Rachelle Ann Go. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘MISS SAIGON’: Alistair Brammer & Eva Noblezada. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘MISS SAIGON’: Jon Jon Briones & cast. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘MISS SAIGON’: Eva Noblezada. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘MISS SAIGON’: Devin Ilaw. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘MISS SAIGON’: Jon Jon Briones. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘MISS SAIGON’: Eva Noblezada. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘MISS SAIGON’: Jon Jon Briones. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘MISS SAIGON’: Nicholas Christopher. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘MISS SAIGON’: Alistair Brammer. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘MISS SAIGON’: Alistair Brammer & Eva Noblezada. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘MISS SAIGON’: Eva Noblezada & Samuel Li Weintraub. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘MISS SAIGON’: Jon Jon Briones & cast. Photo: Matthew Murphy

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‘ALLEGIANCE’: George Takei & Lea Salonga. Photo: Matthew Murphy

ALLEGIANCE
Book by Marc Acito, Jay Kuo & Lorenzo Thione
Music & lyrics by Jay Kuo
Directed by Stafford Arima
Choreographed by Andrew Palermo
Longacre Theatre
220 West 48th Street
(212-239-6200), www.AllegianceMusical.com

By Scott Harrah

There are so many powerful, interesting, dynamic, heroic tales in Allegiance that it is a shame the musical score bogs them all down. The theatrical axiom states that a musical score should propel the story forward. Sadly, in the case of Allegiance, it brings it to a halt. That’s a shame because otherwise, this is truly an epic drama about a World War II aspect we rarely hear about: The cruel treatment of an estimated 120,000 Japanese Americans in “internment” camps, and Japanese-American soldiers, unsung heroes who proved their loyalty to the stars and stripes by joining the fight against the enemy.

The story is so intense that one is genuinely invested in these characters and their plight and outcome. The uninteresting and banal score could have many songs trimmed and instead used the words as dialogue. The authors should have kept six or seven essential songs and eliminated the rest, because they start sounding the same after awhile and none rises to the occasion of the dialogue. The show, based on real-life events, is so epic that it would make either a fine film or stage drama. Was Allegiance done as a musical to give it more commercial appeal? Perhaps, but by doing so, the creators squandered an opportunity to create a straightforward historical saga about a chapter of American history and World War II that needs to be told. There is enough somber, fascinating substance here to make the material stand on its own, so why all the songs? Other than the moving anthem “Gaman” (meaning “patience” in Japanese), most of the musical numbers just seem distracting. In addition, Andrew Palermo’s choreography is downright pedestrian at times, adding zero to songs that already go nowhere.

Inspired by the true experiences of the show’s star George Takei (Sulu of “Star Trek” fame), the story spans 60 years of the Kimura family, starting out in San Francisco in 2001 and then Salinas, California in 1941 to the Heart Mountain Relocation Center in Wyoming during World War II, with scenes in Italy and France and stops in Washington, DC before and after the war. In 2001, Sam Kimura (Mr. Takei) is an elderly man and is visited by a woman bringing a mysterious envelope from his sister Kei (Tony Award winner Lea Salonga), whom he hasn’t seen in decades. Allegiance is ambitious indeed in its sheer scale and timeline. We see the rural farm areas of California in which Japanese Americans thrived, but had their homes sold for next to nothing and their livelihoods and possessions taken from them as they were placed in internment camps. Japanese Americans were held as prisoners by the U.S. military, with their freedom taken away, not given proper medical care, and forced to claim loyalty to the U.S. on questionnaires.

In the camp, young Sam Kimura (played by Telly Leung) wants to prove his family’s loyalty to the USA by joining the war. Sam befriends and falls in love with nurse Hannah Campbell (Katie Rose Clarke). Hannah understands the unjust ways the military treats the Japanese Americans in the camp, such as denying them badly needed medication, but there is little she can do.

Sam’s loyalty, however, isn’t shared by everyone in the camp. Sister Kei supports and loves Frankie Suzuki (Michael K. Lee), a man who is against Japanese Americans being drafted and is vociferous about the way the U.S. military treats his people. Kei also worries about their ailing grandfather Ojii-chan (played by Mr. Takei in a dual role), a man that loves working in his garden.

However, most of the performances are top notch. One has to marvel at 78-year-old George Takei. Here, he is at his best playing Ojii-chan, a charming old man who brings badly needed levity to the folks in the internment camp. It is his final scene as Sam the war hero—a man who earned a purple heart but lost nearly everything important in his life—that really shows us what a consummate actor Mr. Takei truly is as he breaks down emotionally in the most heartbreaking moment of Allegiance.

Lea Salonga brings multiple layers to the character of Kei and is consistently superb and in fine voice, so it is a pity she is given such mediocre material to sing.

Some of the best performances come from supporting cast members. As Hannah, the bighearted blonde nurse from Nebraska, Katie Rose Clarke is outstanding, giving a naturalistic portrayal of a woman who risks everything to stand up for what is right. Equally evocative is Michael K. Lee as Frankie Suzuki.

Director Stafford Arima gets effective performances from everyone else, but as a whole, he had a tall order indeed, overseeing a project with the best of intentions but, because it was made into a musical, was misguided from the get-go. The timing was more than right for Allegiance with all the current talk about immigration and what it means to be an American. Many stories about World War II and the plight of Japanese Americans remain untold. With some heavy script doctoring, Allegiance could have been a modern classic but as is, it is one big missed opportunity.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published November 15, 2015
Reviewed at press performance on November 14, 2015

‘ALLEGIANCE’: (left to right) Michael K. Lee, George Takei & Lea Salonga. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘ALLEGIANCE’: Telly Leung & Katie Rose Clarke. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘ALLEGIANCE’: Telly Leung (center) & cast. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘ALLEGIANCE’: The cast. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘ALLEGIANCE’: Lea Salonga. Photo: Matthew Murphy

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