Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – A pair of moving, surprisingly well-crafted WWI musicals brighten the Off-Broadway scene: THE HELLO GIRLS & ALL IS CALM

• By drediman
• December 3, 2018
• No Comments

This weekend, I caught,  purely by coincidence in back-to-back viewings, a pair of new Off-Broadway musicals based on World War I events (the war’s end celebrates its centennial this year) – The Hello Girls and All Is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914. Despite their common subject, the each use very different approaches to musical theater storytelling. Surprisingly, both are well-crafted, beautifully staged, and well worth your time.

The company of Prospect Theater Company’s production of “The Hello Girls” at 59E59 Theaters.

First up at 59E59 Theaters was Prospect Theater Company’s production of The Hello Girls (RECOMMENDED) by Peter Mills and Cara Reichel. There’s much to commend about this new musical, which recounts the unlikely true story of the first female soldiers in U.S. history – bilingual telephone operators on the front lines who strategically may have won World War I for the Allied Forces. I rather like Mr. Mills’ score, an accomplished hybrid of pastiche (ragtime, military, patriotic songs) and contemporary musical theater stylings (e.g., Jason Robert Brown, Ahrens & Flaherty). It certainly sounded glorious, as played and sung by the hardworking, super talented cast, à la the “John Doyle” approach (kudos particularly to the production’s practically perfect sound design). Speaking of which, Ms. Reichel’s polished direction is exemplary, pushing the very eventful plot forward with efficiency and theatricality on the show’s multi-tiered set. Although I had some issues with the at times trite book, particularly in the less effective second act, I remain deeply impressed at the level craft of this worthy new piece of musical theater. It has set some lofty goals for itself and has largely met them.

The company of Theater Latté Da’s production of “All is Calm” at the Loreto Theater at the Sheen Center.

A little less ambitious but more thoroughly exquisite is the experience I had at the Loreto Theater at the Sheen Center, where I caught Theater Latté Da’s production of All is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914 (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED). In short, it’s among the best jukebox musical I’ve yet encountered in all my theatergoing, and certainly one of the most moving holiday shows I’ve seen in recent years. The fact that its devoid of any semblance of commercialism and fabricated Christmastime emotions makes it unique amongst the large crop of holiday offerings. The piece recounts the real life World War I truce between the Allied Forces and German soldiers in the trenches of No Man’s Land on Christmas, 1914. Much of the production’s potency stems from its superb a cappella arrangements of European ditties and Christmas carols, as well as Peter Rothstein’s austere, elegantly minimalist and fluid staging. Indeed, much of his spare stage pictures are poetically spectral and starkly shrouded in threatening darkness, unsettlingly highlighting the danger and uncertainty of these men’s fates. The piece is pretty much completely comprised of skillfully-curated firsthand accounts of the unprecedented aforementioned day, an element which makes the experience even richer. And the cast is divine; All Is Calm is a true ensemble piece, and these guys bring aching honesty, sensitivity, and a gorgeous sound to this beautiful and unexpectedly powerful new holiday show. It’s a hopeful but measured reminder of mankind’s potential for real altruism.

THE HELLO GIRLS
Off-Broadway, Musical
Prospect Theater Company at 59E59 Theaters
2 hours, 30 minutes (with one intermission)
Through December 22

ALL IS CALM: THE CHRISTMAS TRUCE OF 1914
Off-Broadway, Musical
Theater Latté Da at the Loreto Theater at the Sheen Center
1 hour, 15 minutes (without an intermission)
Through December 30