Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – New musicals that are throwbacks: York Theatre’s MONTE CRISTO and Maltby & Shire’s trilogy capping revue ABOUT TIME

• By drediman
• April 1, 2026
• No Comments

This spring, theatergoers can essentially travel back in time by attending two new musicals whose respective craft harkens back to musicals of the 1990s and the aughts. As per usual, read on for more of my thoughts on these musical throwbacks.

MONTE CRISTO
The York Theatre at the Theatre at St. Jean’s
Through April 5

Before concluding its sold out run this weekend, I was able to catch the York Theatre’s ambitious production of Monte Cristo (RECOMMENDED), a new musical adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’s sweeping adventure novel “The Count of Monte Cristo”, tantalizingly starring Broadway veterans Sierra Boggess, Norm Lewis, Karen Ziemba, Adam Jacobs, and others. Featuring the music of Stephen Weiner and book and lyrics by Peter Kellogg — the team that created the skillful, moderately successful musical Desperate Measures, also developed by the York — this latest effort comes across like a combination of a Disney musical (e.g., the bouncy tunes, the “gee whiz” delivery, the perky sidekicks) and a Frank Wildhorn creation (e.g., the earnest power ballads). In terms of the latter, that’s probably because Wildhorn actually did pen his own musical version of the novel (it played in Europe, but never stateside). Having said that, much of the score is actually quite delightful and at times even thrilling, even if it clashes in tone with the underlying material. Overall, the adaptation favors obvious, efficient storytelling — often squashing the story’s emotional content into digestible bites — over nuanced character development. Nevertheless, the narrative bones of Dumas’s cracking tale are nothing less than captivating. This is a ripping yarn, and despite my reservations about the book as whole, I applaud Kellogg for being able to succinctly and engagingly fit in all of the eventful twists and turns of the plot without taking up five hours. Equally efficient is director Peter Flynn’s workmanlike staging, which unfolds on what appears to be a scaled down version of the most recent Broadway revival of Boublil and Schönberg‘s Les Misérables — the singular musical which Monte Cristo seems to be emulating most. Perhaps best of all are the committed and vocally resplendent performances by the starry cast. As the Count of Monte Cristo, Jacobs looks the part and convincingly ages from earnest young lover to a sophisticated revenge artist. As his decades-spanning love interest, Boggess looks and sounds as lovely as ever; she really does seem tailor-made for these types of romantic roles. By and large, the supporting players — some quite accomplished stalwarts (like the underused Lewis) — were in robust voice, endeavoring their best to animate the show’s many characters.

ABOUT TIME
The Marjorie S. Deane Little Theater
Through April 5

Having grown up listening to the cast albums of Starting Here, Starting Now and Closer Than Ever, it was a particular treat to catch Maltby and Shire’s new musical About Time (RECOMMENDED), which completes the duo’s trilogy of revues that commenced with the former (about young adults embarking on life) and continued with the latter (about adults in the thick of life’s journey). As you probably already gathered, the latest entry is made up of personal musical vignettes that candidly depict — at times touchingly, other times humorously — the twilight of life (the opening number even teasingly includes song snippets from other two revues in the trilogy). Maltby’s scenarios are fueled by convincing and relatable life experiences (gratitudes, regrets, third chances, etc.), and his lyrics are largely urbane and witty. As always, Shire has a wonderful way with tunes, seemingly able to effortlessly whip up attractive melodies that never come across as fabricated from the musical theater mill. Although the team’s collaboration accomplishes the goal of presenting thematically varied vignettes throughout the evening, the show — at nearly two-and-half-hours — is unsurprisingly stuffed with songs of varying quality, even a clunker or two. Indeed, the show could benefit from some editing, ideally arriving at an intermission-less 90-minute run time. My slight misgivings aside, the performances across the board are all top-notch, starting with the epically-voiced Eddie Korbich as the show’s loose narrator, a fictitious songwriter who has a hard time pinning down what it is he really wants the show to be about. But really, About Time is a true ensemble effort, and each accomplished performer — Korbich, Daniel Jenkins, Allyson Kaye Daniel, Darius de Haas, Sally Wilfert, and Lynne Wintersteller (an original cast member of Closer Than Ever) — brings their distinct personality and musical instincts to the show’s parade of songs. To maintain its intimacy, the production has been unassumingly directed by Maltby on essentially a bare stage, with a few scenic props here and there, in a cabaret-like style and appealingly orchestrated only for two pianos (played by the wonderful duo of music director Deniz Cordell and Annie Pasqua) and bass (the equally wonderful Scott Chaurette).