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A CurtainUp Review
Brooklynite
By Jon Magaril
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Do you want Brooklyn to be second rate again? What if Manhattan becomes a really nice place to live? Stranger things have happened. Get your acts together, super heroes. — The Mayor
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(Photo: Carol Rosegg)
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Commercial theater also has its superheroes. POW! With Spring Awakening, American Idiot, and Hedwig, director Michael Mayer has done the seemingly impossible by repeatedly crafting rock musicals that appeal to both young couples and Tony voters. Sometimes though, even Mayer's gone SPLAT! He conceived and directed the muddled revisal of On a Clear Day You Can See Forever. And now, as director and first-time co-librettist, he's brought us the delightful but underpowered Brooklynite.
The title refers cleverly to both our cast of characters and the alien compound which causes those exposed to it to develop exceptional skills. With mentions of "Ditmas Particles" and "The Gowanus Effect," off-hand borough-specific jokes serve as the show's most reliable source of laughs. Deficiencies in the rest of the book make the mind wander and wonder whether there's an audience for this show outside city limits.
The characters and action riff off comic book tropes with minimal affection, invention, or sharpness. One exception, at least at the start, is Avenging Angelo (show MVP Nick Cordero), the local farthest from the blast. As a result, he can spot available parking spaces in a single glance. His resentment over being low man in the Legion leads him to dastardly deeds that fuel much of the eventual plot.
Our hero of sorts is Trey Swieskowski (Matt Doyle, sweet of voice and demeanor), the Brooklyn Superhero Supply Company's clerk. Like Bruce Wayne, Trey's driven by his failure as a boy to protect his parents from an armed thief. He dreams of becoming Astrolad, so he can fly around the city saving citizens in need and romancing Astrolass.
Even for a slyly hip comedy, Trey and Astrolass make for a wonky pair of heroes and romantic leads. Her abdication of heroic responsibility makes her seem weaker than the "before" picture in an old Charles Atlas ad. And Trey's so unassuming that, after singing his big "I want" number, he's demoted to the chorus for the first ensemble number. He fits in fine there.
They've also got some unbecoming moral issues. She steals grant money to fund Trey's experiment in synthesizing Brooklynite so that new heroes will be able to replace her. And he's not above some little little white lies himself. The characters, created by Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael Chabon and noted author Ayelet Waldman might work smashingly in a short McSweeney's story, where we could just groove on the tone. But even a gentle satire requires some emotional investment to sustain a two hour running time.
Fortunately Mayer's direction and Peter Lerman's score inject the proceedings with a steady zotz of zippy pleasure. And that's no easy feat when the material, from its title to exit music, treads a perilously thin path of sly delight between the rocky shoals of inconsequentiality on one side or unhip earnestness on the other.
Lerman's peppy pop-rock score rarely missteps, but it does wobble at the most inopportune moments. The opening song charmingly charts the formula for Trey's chemical experiment but hits kryptonite at its cliched end: "I'm on track The world is awaking/ To the noise that I will be making/ Nothing's gonna stop me now/ I'm a clerk but not for long/ Soon I will hear my hero's song."
The show's big finale trips on both triteness and hard-to-track lines which don't go trippingly into the brain: "I will be vigilant and I'll be true/ With strength I need not lift a finger to find/ For all of the powers I've ever desired/ Were always in my mind/ I don't know why everything we want/ Complicates the rescue of who we are/ From what we do." That just makes you think "eh," when you're not asking "what?"
A show has problems at its core if it can't figure out how to land the big moments. And too many of the libretto's small bits flatline. For instance, nearly everything involving another Legionnaire, the invisible Captain Clear, goes thud. And Ann Harada, who got guffaws pretty much every time she opened her mouth in Avenue Q and even Cinderella, works mighty hard to get titters here.
Like Astrolass, Mayer seems to have had difficulty coordinating the two sides of his identity. His director side hasn't been able to kill the writers' runt-of-the-litter darlings. Still, he deserves a plaque of honor for the overriding air of insouciant delight and several giddily memorable bits like having the Mayor always appear with a rolling platform attached in front of him.
Per usual, he gets top-flight work from a league of remarkable designers. Donyale Werle's set, Kevin Adams' lights, and Andrea Lauer's costumes of shinily artificial fabrics make for a dizzily colorful wonderland. I wouldn't mind living there myself. Kimberly Grisby's music direction and Kai Harada's sound design are crips and vibrant.
Out of this world choreographer Stephen Hoggett, like the last of the six Legionnaires Kid Comet, seems to be everywhere at once this season, with work on The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, Let the Right One In and The Last Ship. Adapting his approach to the needs of each piece, he's in an unusually light mood here, with more dance than usual. It's a joy to watch.
Brooklynite's like an endearingly off-kilter episode of an epic serial. Its band of heroes may not be at their best, but they eek out a minor victory in their major effort to fight the good fight with heart, humor, and exceptional skill.
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Brooklynite Book by Michael Mayer and Peter Lerman Music and lyrics/orchestrations by Mr. Lerman Based on characters created by Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman Directed by Mr. Mayer choreography by Steven Hoggett Music director, Kimberly Grigsby Cast:Andrew Call (El Fuego), Gerard Canonico (Kid Comet), Max Chernin (Marcus/Others), Nick Choksi (Sunil/Others), Nick Cordero (Avenging Angelo), Matt Doyle (Trey Swieskowski), Carla Duren (Paula/Others), Ann Harada (Professor Whitman/Others), John-Michael Lyles (Herbert/Others), Grace McLe Sets by Donyale Werle Costumes by Andrea Lauer Lighting by Kevin Adams Sound by Kai Harada Projections and video by Andrew Lazarow Stage manager, Lisa Iacucci Running time: 2 hours with intermission Vineyard Theater, 108 East 15th Street, Manhattan; 212-353-0303 , vineyardtheatre.org From 1/29/15; opening 2/25/15; closing 3/29/15 Reviewed by Jon Magaril at 2/22/15 matinee performance |
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Musical Numbers
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Act One
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Act Two
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