Head over Heels

B

The idea hardly sounds promising: take a 16th-century English pastoral, “The Arcadia” by Sir Philip Sidney, revise it and marry it to a score made up of songs by the all-female 80’s rock group, the Go-Go’s. Nevertheless, it was sufficiently well-received at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival three years ago that a group of producers including Gwyneth Paltrow and Jordan Roth signed on to shape it up and bring it first to San Francisco and now to Broadway's Hudson Theatre. Against all odds, it mostly works. James Magruder (Triumph of Love) adapted Jeff Whitty’s (Avenue Q) original concept and book and the producers assembled a fine cast and a very talented creative team including Tom Kitt (Next to Normal) as orchestrator, Spencer Liff (Spring Awakening) as choreographer and Michael Mayer (Spring Awakening) as director. The sumptuous set design by Julian Crouch (Hedwig), the wonderful costumes by Arianne Phillips (Hedwig), the hyperactive lighting by Kevin Adams (Hedwig) and the clever projections by Andrew Lazarow (Privacy) all add greatly to the production. The eight leads — Jeremy Kushner, Rachel York, Bonnie Milligan, Samantha Pollino (u/s for Alexandra Socha), Tom Alan Robbins, Taylor Iman Jones, Andrew Durand and Peppermint — are all talented performers. Durand (Spring Awakening) is delightful in the dual role of shepherd and Amazon. It’s good to have Rachel York (City of Angels) back on a New York stage. Peppermint (“RuPaul’s Drag Race”) is notable for being the first transgender woman to create a role on Broadway. For me, Liff’s choreography is one of the strongest aspects of the show. l confess that I had never heard a Go-Go’s song before and would not feel deprived if I did not hear one again. Nevertheless, they fit reasonably well into the show. The GoGo’s must have reached cult status, because there was loud whooping and hollering whenever the first bars of a familiar song were heard. The plot is unabashedly silly, with an oracle, a curse, a royal family, a shepherd, hidden identities and a touch of “woke” gender fluidity. It’s not My Fair Lady or Carousel, but it works as naughty fun for a summer night. The curtain call is a real treat! Running time: two hours 20 minutes including intermission.

Bring It On, The Musical **

(Please click on the title to see the full review.)
After last year's unsuccessful move uptown by Lysistrata Jones [reviewed 12/3/11], the last thing I expected to see on a Broadway stage this summer was another cheerleader musical. And yet here is Bring It On, "inspired by" the immensely popular five-movie series of the same name, now in previews at the St. James Theatre. Its impressive creative roster includes composers Tom Kitt (Next to Normal) and Lin-Manuel Miranda (In the Heights), librettist Jeff Whitty (Avenue Q) and director/choreographer Andy Blankenbuehhler (In the Heights). While the hard-working cast of 35 is performing high-flying cheerleading stunts and lively dance numbers, it is great fun. The book is only fitfully entertaining and doesn't really spring fully to life until the captain of the lily-white Truman High cheerleading squad is forced to transfer to the inner-city Jackson High. The characters are little more than stereotypes -- the dumb blonde, the chubby but spunky girl, the teen-aged Eve Harrington, the tough-tender girl, the comic rapper, the sensitive boy, and even the black drag queen. The music is often engaging, but the lyrics were not always intelligible. The show would benefit from some judicious trimming: 2 hours, 25 minutes (including intermission) is too long to sustain its momentum. The simple set by David Korins makes heavy use of video projections (excellent ones by Jeff Sugg) on four large moving panels. Andrea Lauer's costumes are delightful. Lighting designer Jason Lyons is guilty of the cardinal sin of shining bright lights in the eyes of the audience not once but twice. Judging from the reaction on the night I attended, the show is critic-proof. Wild cheering began even before the show started. The audience stayed on their feet even after the standing ovation to watch projected photos of the cast in rehearsal. The crowd was slighter older than at Newsies and even more enthusiastic. If you are looking for uncomplicated summer entertainment, you could do far worse than to catch this limited run.