‘A STRANGE LOOP’: (left to right): James Jackson Jr., L Morgan Lee, Antwayn Hopper, John-Andrew Morrison, Jaquel Spivey, Jason Veasey & John-Michael Lyles. Photo: Marc J. Franklin.

A STRANGE LOOP
Book, music & lyrics by Michael R. Jackson
Directed by Stephen Brackett
Lyceum Theatre
149 West 45th Street
(212-239-6200), www.StrangeLoopMusical.com

By David NouNou

What one expects from A Strange Loop going into the theatre is completely different from what one gets coming out. The expectations going in are for a “Big, Black & Queer American Musical!” as the poster tells us, a laugh riot, and in fact it is just that for the first half. The agony comes in the second part; of what it’s like to “travel the world in a fat, Black, queer body” and the pressures that go with it in the first song sung by Usher, “Intermission Song.”

Our hero, Usher (Jaquel Spivey) is an usher at Disney’s The Lion King and can barely make a living with this job. In addition, Usher carries a lot of baggage consisting of a chorus of six people in his head named Thought 1 through Thought 6. These thoughts play many parts: including his father and mother, both named after The Lion King characters. Some thoughts remind him of his self-loathing, student loans, issues on Black pride and his repressed sexuality. Various others comment on the show Usher is writing a musical about a gay Black man writing a musical about a gay black man to be named A Strange Loop, about that never-ending loop that man travels throughout his life.

Usher is further burdened by the guilt injected by his mother of how much she has sacrificed in raising him and in return wants him to write a Tyler Perry-style Gospel play with Jesus bringing salvation. Usher wishes he could be more like his “inner white girl” because they are free to do what they want, instead of being held back by expectations put on Black boys.

Usher at this point goes to his doctor for a physical and is asked about his sex life. This scene is a scream. To follow the doctors’ orders to find sex, he goes on various gay apps only to be rejected as being too Black, too fat, too feminine, and for having a small appendage. It’s around this point that the hilarity stops, and the truth that hurts starts appearing. Usher is outraged not only by his parents’ outlook on homosexuality; in addition, he now has to contend with the way the gay community discriminates against people with shortcomings.

Usher goes down a spiral of self-humiliating acts to finally find redemption and be able to live this strange loop he calls his life and how to bring an end to his show. Even when he brings an end to the show, what next, how will that loop of life still continue?

Michael R. Jackson won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for this odyssey and is most deserving. The way he has interwoven the hilarity and tragedy, inner thoughts vs outer reality, faith, religion and family in one huge tapestry is profound. He has given us the best and most unsettling piece of theatre of what a Black, fat, awkward gay man has to deal with on a daily basis and his inner thoughts are his worst enemy.

Mr. Jackson has written the book as well as the score. The book is most unsettling toward the end as is intended, but the score always explains the thoughts and the situations that are taking place. It is both clever and thought-provoking. For some audiences, it may not have positive results. At times, it is jarring and hard to sit through. Not the type of show that would play well in Florida or Oklahoma.

Jaquel Spivey as Usher is heartbreakingly brilliant. You can see the daily pummeling and humiliation on his expressive face and how he wishes he can change the course of his life for the better. His performance may land him the Tony for Best Actor in a Musical.

Director Stephen Brackett has done an excellent job of arranging the various thoughts: Thought 1 (L. Morgan Lee), Thought 2.( James Jackson Jr.), Thought 3 (John-Michael Lyles), Thought 4 (John Andrew Morrison), Thought 5 (Jason Veasey) and Thought 6 (Antwayn Hopper). They each move around the stage to the beat of their own drum and make a seamless ensemble.

The show is a must-see. You will laugh with glee and be joyously entertained, but be ready for the discomfort to follow. One will be traveling in Usher’s shoes; it will hurt, but ultimately a reward will ensue.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published May 1, 2022
Reviewed at April 29, 2022 press performance.

‘A STRANGE LOOP’ (left to right): Jason Veasey, James Jackson, Jr., Jaquel Spivey, L Morgan Lee & Antwayn Hopper. Photo: Marc J. Franklin.

‘A STRANGE LOOP’: (left to right) James Jackson Jr., Jason Veasey, John-Michael Lyles, Jaquel Spivey, L Morgan Lee, John-Andrew Morrison & Antwayn Hopper. Photo: Marc J. Franklin.

‘A STRANGE LOOP’: Jaquel Spivey. Photo: Marc J. Franklin.

‘A STRANGE LOOP’: Jaquel Spivey & cast. Photo: Marc J. Franklin.

‘A STRANGE LOOP’: The cast. Photo: Marc J. Franklin.

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‘THE LIGHTNING THIEF-THE PERCY JACKSON MUSICAL’: (left to right) Kristin Stokes, Chris McCarrell & Jorrel Javier. Photo: Jeremy Daniel

THE LIGHTNING THIEF: THE PERCY JACKSON MUSICAL
Adapted from the book The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
Book by Joe Tracz
Music & lyrics by Rob Rokichi
Directed by Stephen Brackett
Choreography by Patrick McCollum
Through January 5, 2020
Longacre Theatre
220 West 48th Street
(212-239-6200), www.lightningthiefmusical.com

By David NouNou

Knowing that this show is aimed at younger/teenage boys or Generation Z, all day long I have been channeling my inner 13-year-old self to be able to fairly assess The Lightning Thief. Within five minutes of the show, that poor boy withered away and the monstrous adult in me emerged full-blown. As in the earlier debacle by director Stephen Brackett, Be More Chill, which also had adults playing young teenagers, the ability to suspend disbelief vanished into thin air.

Not only the boy in me had problems comprehending the ancient Greek Gods and myths; the adult in me was confounded by all the machinations on earth, Mt. Olympus, and Hades, all taking place from Long Island, New York, random names in New Jersey, to somewhere in Los Angeles and places in between.

Percy Jackson (Chris McCarrell), your typical misunderstood “teenager,” gets expelled from school for killing a “gorgon” or something while on a school outing. His mother (Jalynn Steele) sends him to Camp Half Blood in Long Island accompanied by his best friend Grover (Jorrel Javier). Camp Half Blood is the place where misplaced children go to find their prospective Greek God parents. Annabeth (Kristin Stokes) befriends him there. She shows him powers to enable him to go down to the underworld where they both get to find their “God” parents. This is part one of the convoluted plot.

Part two gives us the trip to Hadestown—oh, sorry, that is another musical playing across the street at the Walter Kerr Theatre. Well, they are in Hades, fight all sorts of monsters, among them Medusa and other foes. In the end, Percy or Percius finds out that his father is Poseidon and must return the lightning bolt found in his nap sack; he then must decide whether he wants to live at Camp Half Blood and go on more quests or go into the real world and fight for meaningful things. At this point I was yearning to be at the Lyric Theatre revisiting the far superior Harry Potter and The Cursed Child, both Parts 1 and 2 being less convoluted.

Harry Potter has the proverbial cast of thousands, while The Lightning Thief has a scant lackluster cast of seven portraying a cast of thousands, except for Percy; the remaining six players portray multiple roles, which further adds to the mayhem.

Young people may have enjoyed the books of the adventures of Percy Jackson, but as a musical with a banal one-note pop-rock score that doesn’t help the convoluted book, it is a dud, and the amateurish direction by Stephen Brackett is shameful.

The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical is yet another example of how many empty theatres there were this fall/winter season that needed to be filled with whatever came their way.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published October 22, 2019
Reviewed at October 21, 2019 press performance.

‘THE LIGHTNING THIEF-THE PERCY JACKSON MUSICAL’: Chris McCarrell. Photo: Jeremy Daniel

‘THE LIGHTNING THIEF-THE PERCY JACKSON MUSICAL’: Chris McCarrell. Photo: Jeremy Daniel

‘THE LIGHTNING THIEF-THE PERCY JACKSON MUSICAL’: (left to right) Chris McCarrell & James Hayden Rodriguez (bottom); Sarah Beth Pfeifer &  Jorrel Javier (top). Photo: Jeremy Daniel #

‘THE LIGHTNING THIEF-THE PERCY JACKSON MUSICAL’: Chris McCarrell & Jalynn Steele. Photo: Jeremy Daniel

‘THE LIGHTNING THIEF-THE PERCY JACKSON MUSICAL’: (left to right) Jorrel Javier, Chris McCarrell (top), Kristin Stoke & James Hayden Rodriguez. Photo: Jeremy Daniel

‘THE LIGHTNING THIEF-THE PERCY JACKSON MUSICAL’: Chris McCarrell. Photo: Jeremy Daniel.

‘THE LIGHTNING THIEF-THE PERCY JACKSON MUSICAL’: The company. Photo: Jeremy Daniel

The post ‘The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical’ appeared first on StageZine.

‘BE MORE CHILL’: The cast. Photo: Maria Baranova

BE MORE CHILL
Music & lyrics by Joe Iconis
Book by Joe Tracz
Based on the novel by Ned Vizzini
Directed by Stephen Brackett
Lyceum Theatre
149 West 45th Street
866-302-0995
http://bemorechillmusical.com/

By Scott Harrah

The backstory of Be More Chill is perhaps more interesting than the musical itself. When the show originated at a small New Jersey theater in 2015, it reportedly became a digital phenomenon when its pop score went viral online on various social media platforms. After an Off-Broadway run last summer at the Signature Theater, the show has for some inexplicable reason opened on Broadway, targeted at the under-30 set (the younger siblings of millennials sometimes called Generation Z). Everything about this production is derivative of earlier musicals and movies that mastered the topic of tension between high school nerds and popular kids so much better (from Dear Evan Hansen to Mean Girls and Heathers).

Science fiction is the uninspired twist that sets Be More Chill apart from other teen angst musicals. Socially awkward teens Jeremy (Will Roland) and Michael (George Salazar) will do anything to shake off their geeky reputations. High school junior Jeremy is hot for Christine (Stephanie Hsu) and is eager to find new ways to impress her. Jeremy doesn’t have a great life at home, either. He lives with his divorced father (Jason Sweettooth Williams), a man who works from home and never wears pants.

Bully Rich (Gerard Canonico) introduces Jeremy to a computer-in-a-pill known as a SQUIP (an acronym for “super quantum unit intel processor”). Whenever one takes the pill, a computer implants itself in one’s brain and instructs the user in what to say and do in order to be cool. After meeting a “dealer” at a nearby Payless ShoeSource (don’t ask), Jeremy is persuaded to take the SQUIP. When he swallows the pill, the SQUIP manifests itself as a character modeled after Keanu Reeves (Jason Tam), clad in a sci-fi costume resembling a sad Vivienne Westwood knockoff. The SQUIP harshly critiques Jeremy’s personality, wardrobe and behavior and cooks up ways he can finally become popular among his classmates.

The narrative often seems like an excuse to pad out the story with numerous shrill technopop songs, from “More Than Survive” and “Do You Wanna Ride?” to “Halloween,” “Michael in the Bathroom” and “The Smartphone Hour (Rich Set a Fire)”. “The Smartphone Hour” is supposedly a tribute to “The Telephone Hour” from Bye Bye Birdie but fails miserably as a modern ode to that classic. Chase Brock’s choreography is unremarkable. One of the sillier subplots is the school play Christine and the other kids are working on, a zombie-apocalypse rendition of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, written by the high school drama teacher Mr. Reyes (Mr. Sweettooth Williams again, playing one of several roles). The show’s sense of humor primarily mocks 1990s pop culture with references to Crystal Pepsi and “Red” Mountain Dew, Eminem and video games.

The performances from the cast are mostly forgettable except for Tiffany Mann, the gossipy teen with a powerful voice. Ms. Mann does her best to add some dimension to her role, but the rest of cast cannot rise above the paper-thin material and stereotyped characters. Unlike other teen musicals, there is ultimately nothing redeeming whatsoever about the characters here, so it’s impossible to root for any of these kids. Just like Mr. Reyes’ dreadful play within the play, Be More Chill is an unsatisfying evening of theater and reeks of amateur writing. Despite the colorful, clever sets by Beowulff Borritt and all the energy emanating at the Lyceum, watching the show is akin to being on a bad acid trip—awkward, painful, jarring and unsatisfying.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published March 13, 2019
Reviewed at March 12, 2019 performance.

‘BE MORE CHILL’: Will Roland & cast. Photo: Maria Baranova

‘BE MORE CHILL’: Tiffany Mann & the cast. Photo: Maria Baranova

‘BE MORE CHILL’: The cast. Photo: Maria Baranova

‘BE MORE CHILL’: (left to right) Katlyn Carlson, Tiffany Mann & Lauren Marcus. Photo: Maria Baranova

‘BE MORE CHILL’: Jason Tam & cast. Photo: Maria Baranova

‘BE MORE CHILL’: Stephanie Hsu & cast. Photo: Maria Baranova

‘BE MORE CHILL’: (left to right) Jason Tam, Will Roland & Lauren Marcus. Photo: Maria Baranova

‘BE MORE CHILL’: Stephanie Hsu & Will Roland. Photo: Maria Baranova

‘BE MORE CHILL’: Will Roland & George Alazar. Photo: Maria Baranova

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