CurtainUp
The Internet Theater Magazine of Reviews, Features,
Annotated Listings
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CurtainUp The Internet Theater Magazine of Reviews, Features,
Annotated Listings |
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A CurtainUp Review
Unexpected Joy
By Elyse Sommer
For the show's book and lyric writer Bill Russell, who also penned the book and lyrics for Side Show, Unexpected Joy was a chance to showcase the music of five terrific women: Composer Janet Hood, and a quartet of terrific belters: Courtney Balan, Alyson Kaye Daniel, Luba Mason and Celeste Rose. As usual, James Morgan, the York's Producing Artistic Director has created a pleasing and apt setting for the singers and 4-piece band (as led by Beth Falcone, adding to the #MeToo timeliness), for this family saga to unfold. To sum it all up In the perennial nutshell, this is a reunion of sorts for three generations of women. Joy the eldest (a tall, blonde and most ungrandma-like Luba Mason) has planned. She's invited her daughter Rachel (Courtney Balan) and granddaughter Tamara (Celeste Rose) to join her in Cape Cod for combination concert and memorial for the musician she never bothered to marry. Mother and daughter have not exactly been close since their lives have been on decidedly differently tracks. The free-spirited, unconventional Joy has fallen in love again, this time with Lou (Allyson Kaye Daniel) a feisty Lesbian and also a talented musician. But Joy has another event to celebrate that she wants her daughter and granddaughter to share with her— her marriage to Lou. While Rachel too has carried on the family music tradition, it's as the choir leader of her Evangelical minister husband's church. Naturally, this puts mother and daughter not just on a different musical track, but a whole belief system. To further stand in the way of of achieving the that titular "Unexpected Joy" it turns out that young Tamara wants to be a singer like grandma Joy, and not be forced to follow her parents' rigid life style. Clearly there's a lot of tension to air out and punctuate with rousing pop-rock singing. Joy hems and haws about telling her anti-gay daughter who Lou really is, and Tamara confronts her mom. It's all part of the inevitable finale when the whole cast gets together to to sing the theme summarizing "Common Ground." The performers are all excellent, but this is hardly ground breaking or extraordinarily fresh. In other words, not likely to be another multiple award winner demanding a second production as has been the case for last year's delightful Desperate Measures That said, it's light-hearted fun, with likeable characters that takes a well-meaning look at the issues that divide modern American families.
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Search CurtainUp in the box below PRODUCTION NOTES Unexpected Joy Book and lyrics by Bill Russell Music by Janet Hood Directed by Amy Anders Corcoran Music direction by Beth Falcone Cast: Courtney Balan as Rachel, Allyson Kaye Daniel as Lou, Luba Mason) as Joy, Celeste Rose as Tamara Scenic design: James Morgan Costumes: Matthew Pachtman Lighting: Ken Wills Sound: Julian Evans Properties: Deb Gaouette Musicians: Beth Falcone-piano/conductor; Brian Hamm-bass;Jack Morer-guitar;Jeff Potter-drums Stage Manager: Julienne Menassian Running Time: Approximately 95 minutes without an intermission From 4/24/18; opening 5/03/18;closing 5/27/18 Tuesdays & Wednesdays at 7:00 p.m., Thursdays at 2:30 p.m.*, Fridays at 8:00 p.m., Saturdays at 2:30 p.m.* & 8:00 p.m., and Sundays at 2:30 p.m Reviewed by Elyse Sommer at 5/01/18 press preview REVIEW FEEDBACK Highlight one of the responses below and click "copy" or"CTRL+C"
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