Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – 2016’s NYMF proved to be as eclectic as ever

• By drediman
• August 17, 2016
• No Comments

This year’s edition of the New York Musical Festival, lovingly known simply as “NYMF”, proved to be as eclectic – in subject matter, style, and alas, quality – as in years gone by. Over the course of four weeks, I was able to catch 11 full productions of new musicals, as well as one concert staging (which oddly felt more fulsome than many of the full productions I saw). Also as in past festivals, these year’s crop of new musicals tended to have weaker books relative to the scores on display. Some highlights included the rollicking folk musical Dust Can’t Kill Me, the moving and superbly crafted Newton’s Mind, the smashing hip hop musical iLLa (presented as a staged concert, as aforementioned).

 

Camp Rolling Hills

Book and lyrics by David Spiegel and Stacy Davidowitz
Music and lyrics by Adam Spiegel

Score: The Spiegels’ scored big with their bouncy work on Cloned!, an inspired NYMF entry a few seasons ago. Their work on Camp Rolling Hills is solid, exuding an undeniable sweetness that’s mostly beguiling. That being said, the score lacks the wit and giddy exuberance that made Cloned! a standout.

Book:  The book by David Spiegel and Stacy Davidowitz proved to be merely a serviceable effort. The story is straightforward: a group of kids assemble for a summer’s worth of shenanigans at a camp, learn some lessons, and head back home. Perhaps the most ingenious thing about the musical was its decision to cast the kids with kids (remember Jason Robert Brown’s 13?).

Final thoughts: A sweet score and a handful of sprightly, honest performances – particularly from some of the kids – unfortunately couldn’t camouflage the somewhat hackneyed and creaky book.

Calls to mind:  Gigantic, 13

Rating:  ** (out of ****)

 

Children of Salt

Book and lyrics Lauren Epsenhart
Music by Jaime Lozano

Score:  Lozano and Epsenhart’s score (beautifully orchestrated, played, and sung here) is the real star of this earnest new musical, which takes its cue from Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Latin-tinged score for his Tony-winning In the Heights.

Book: The book by Lauren Epsenhart is a structured as a memory play of sorts – it concerns a man who returns to his childhood town in Mexico to confront the past he ran away from as a young man. Despite the creators’ clearly passionate efforts, the book tends towards the obvious and dramatic (at least in this staging).

Final thoughts:  The show – featuring a cast of varying quality – is likely to be divisive. Some may find the emotive story to be overly dramatic; some may find it profoundly moving. Luckily, despite one’s inclinations, the beautifully-played score is a real find, eclipsing some of the book’s shortcomings.

Calls to mind:  In the Heights

Rating:  **1/2 (out of ****)

 

Dust Can’t Kill Me

Book by Abigail Carney
Music and lyrics by Elliah Heifetz

Score:  Elliah Heifetz’s folk score, superbly played and sung by its cast (á la Once and Sam Mendes’s popular revival of Cabaret), is a real treasure. His work here is sophisticated and always interesting, featuring some of the most accomplished and evocative lyrics at this year’s festival.

Book:  Abigail Carney has come up with a haunting parable of a book that fits hand-in-glove with Mr. Heifetz’s score. The musical tells the story of small band of runaways in 1936 Kansas and their struggle for life and happiness in the desert.

Final thoughts: Dust Can’t Kill Me was one of the true highlights of this year’s NYMF, combining an evocative book with a rollicking and often times deeply-felt score. The production was sensationally directed (by Srda Vasiljevic) and it’s hard to imagine that this cast can be bettered.

Calls to mind:  Floyd Collins, Once

Rating:  **** (out of ****)

 

The First Church of Mary, the Repentant Prostitute’s FIFTH ANNUAL Benefit Concert, Revival, and Pot Luck Dinner

Book, music, and lyrics by Geoff Davin

Score:  Geoff Davin’s work here is an impressive, tongue-in-cheek medley of musical styles that’s consistently a delight. If perhaps not the very best of the festival, it certainly did its job within the context of this off-beat show.

Book:  Mr. Davin also penned the smart and very funny fourth wall-breaking book (think Hedwig and the Angry Inch), in addition to writing the score (he also commandingly starred in the title role). The lengthy title basically lays out the show’s premise.

Final thoughts:  Despite its exceedingly silly “story”, The First Church of Mary improbably featured one of the strongest books at this year’s NYMF. Combined with a well-crafted score and a number of strong performances (and a few not so strong), the show had me smiling throughout – although the show certainly isn’t for everyone.

Calls to mind:  Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Rating:  *** (out of ****)

 

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Book by Sebastian Michael
Music and lyrics Jonathan Kaldor

Score: Although Mr. Kaldor’s traditional-sounding musical theater score is certainly more than serviceable (and gorgeously played and sung at this year’s NYMF), I couldn’t help feeling that it too conveniently plays it too “by-the-books”.

Book:  The book by Sebastian Michael is ambitious and one of the most refined to be found at this year’s NYMF; not surprisingly – the musical has been in development for years. The musical tells the fairy tale-like story of a fictitious European country and the young independent-minded American heiress who becomes its princess. I wouldn’t be surprised if perhaps the musical was inspired by Princess Diana.

Final thoughts:  This mounting, brilliantly cast and formidably staged, is a case in which the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The panoramic story beautifully comes to life in spite of its score and book, which are superbly crafted but only occasionally truly inspired.

Calls to mind: Ragtime

Rating:  *** (out of ****)

 

iLLa

Book, Music, and Lyrics by Ronvé O’Daniel
Additional music by Jevares C. Myrick

Score: Mr. O’Daneil’s hip hop score was one of the unexpected glories at this year’s festival. It’s tuneful, sophisticated, and thrillingly played and performed. Comparisons will likely be made between this work and Hamilton, and I’m happy to say that iLLa stands up confidently against that inescapable megahit.

Book:  If there’s a weakness, its may be Mr. O’Daniel’s book, which I wish was more adventurous and risk-taking. Although the story – about the coming of age of an African American hip hop artist – is full of stock characters, it manages to rise above it all with writing of surprising depth and maturity.

Final thoughts: Although some may find the book somewhat sophomoric, Mr. O’Daniel’s score is an absolute thrill – as was the entire NYMF cast. On the strength of the score alone, the show unquestionably deserves a future life. And despite being advertised as a staged concert, this summer’s mounting proved more fulfilling than many of the fully staged productions at NYMF.

Calls to mind: Hamilton

Rating:  ***1/2 (out of ****)

 

Lisa and Leonardo

Book by Ed McNamee, Donya Lane, and Michael Unger
Music by Donya Lane
Lyrics by Ed McNamee

Score:  Lane and McNamee’s muddled score suffers from severe identity crisis.  At one point, one is reminded of Sondheim’s exquisite Sunday in the Park with George. At other times, the audience is thrown into the bombastic revolutionary world of Les Misérables. Straddling these two aesthetic and musical worlds is all well and good, but here it’s simply been clumsily and haphazardly executed (in terms of both music and lyrics).

Book:  Like the score, the book is a convoluted mess. Its three writers have attempted to tell the eventful story of Leonardo da Vinci’s relationship with one Lisa, who inspired that impossibly famous portrait, the Mona Lisa.

Final thoughts:  Alas, Lisa and Leonardo marked the low point at this year’s NYMF. To the production’s credit, the NYMF mounting featured a committed cast of strong-voiced actors.

Calls to mind:  Sunday in the Park with George, Les Misérables

Rating:  * (out of ****)

 

Ludo’s Broken Bride

Concept, music, and lyrics by Ludo
Adapted by Stacey Weingarten
Additional story by Dana Levinson

Score:  One of the wild cards at this year’s festival, Ludo’s surprisingly engaging rock score (initially released as a concept album) turned out to be one of the more authentic and viscerally moving scores at NYMF, calling to mind Jim Steinman’s epic sensibility. Ludo’s work certainly isn’t perfect, but there’s something really exciting here.

Book:  Simply stated, the sci-fi inspired book is a hot mess, but you have to admire its audacity. In my mind, the book is salvageable with some significant reworking, but the bones of an exciting, adventurous story are there (which is more than I can say for most musicals at the festival).

Final thoughts:  Despite the overall mess that is Ludo’s Broken Bride, I think Ludo and his fellow collaborators have something here. Oh, and that score!

Calls to mind:  The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Rating:  **1/2 (out of ****)

 

Newton’s Cradle

Book and additional lyrics by Kim Saunders
Music and lyrics by Heath Saunders

Score:  Along with iLLa, Newton’s Cradle’s sophisticated, lovingly and carefully crafted score by the talented young Heath Saunders (who also leads the cast in a heartbreaking, sensitive performance) was hands-down among the very best at this year’s edition of NYMF.

Book:  Like Heath Saunders’ score, Kim Saunders’ (Heath’s mother!) book, which tells the story of an autistic man and the effect he has on his family, was also expertly and sensitively rendered.

Final thoughts:  Newton’s Cradle was decidedly my favorite show at this year’s NYMF. No other show combined score, book, direction (the production was helmed by Tony-winner Vicki Clark of The Light in the Piazza, a show which bears more than a passing resemblance with Newton’s Cradle), and performances as beautifully as the Saunders’ gorgeous musical does. If the audience ovation at the show’s conclusion was any indication, I trust this one will find a future life.

Calls to mind:  Next to Normal, The Light in the Piazza

Rating:  **** (out of ****)

 

Nickel Mines

Book by Andrew Palermo and Shannon Stoeke
Music and lyrics by Dan Dyer

Score: Dan Dyer’s lovely, folk-inspired score is one of the highlights of this fascinating musical. Perhaps one of the most emotive scores I heard at this year’s NYMF, it works beautifully within the musical’s loosely-structured book.

Book:  Nickel Mines’ isn’t your traditional book musical. It’s rather an episodic, highly stylized, movement-based (Steven Hoggett’s work for such shows as Once comes to mind) docu-musical that chronicles the tragic 2006 shooting at an Amish elementary school in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Final thoughts:  This fascinating hybrid of a musical was a refreshing change of pace from the other NYMF offerings this summer, mainly because it’s creators have chosen to eschew your typical book musical formula in favor of a more elemental approach (kudos book writers Andrew Palermo and Shannon Stoeke). For this reason alone, I would recommend Nickel Mines.

Calls to mind:  Once

Rating:  *** (out of ****)

 

Tink!

Book by Anthony Marino
Music and lyrics by Lena Gabriele
Additional lyrics by Greg Kerestan

Score:  Lena Gabriele and Greg Kerestan’s work on Tink! has resulted in an attractive, if generic, score. I particularly enjoyed the tuneful Wicked-esque moments (“Fool Me Twice” is reminiscent of “Popular”; “A Special Kind of Madness” of “No Good Deed”) in the score.

Book:  Anthony Marino’s book is a clever prequel of sorts to the popular Peter Pan story – very much in the same vein as the superlative Peter and the Starcatcher, albeit in the aesthetic mold of Wicked.

Final thoughts:  Tink! joins the long line of “back story” shows. Admittedly, this NYMF production is energetically – if unevenly – performed by a large, eager cast. At the end of the day, however, I found myself asking, do we really need another Peter Pan riff (after Broadway’s Peter and the Starcatcher and Finding Neverland)?

Calls to mind:  Wicked, Peter and the Starcatcher, Finding Neverland

Rating:  ** (out of ****)

 

Ultimate Man!

Conceived by Paul Gambaccini
Book by Jane Edith Wilson and Charles Abbott
Music by Alastair William King
Lyrics by Paul Gambaccini, Alastair William King, and Jane Edith Wilson

Score:  Like, Tink!, Ultimate Man features an amiable if not particularly memorable Broadway-meets-pop style score. If anything, the show is overstuffed with material and ideas. Some streamlining and focus would do the musical good.

Book:  The book by Jane Edith Wilson and Charles Abbott (based on a story conceived by Paul Gambaccini) is a fun and creative concoction about a cartoonist and his superhero creation. Suffice to say, life and art are entangled in a web of wiz-bang intrigue.

Final thoughts:  Ultimate Man! is an entertaining diversion. That being said, like the comic book it musicalizes, the musical – at least in its current form – rarely moves beyond the two dimensional.

Calls to mind:  Fun Home, City of Angels, Brooklynite

Rating:  ** (out of ****)

 

2016 NEW YORK MUSICAL FESTIVAL
Off-Broadway, Musical
Various venues
Closed (ran July 11 through August 7)