Deep Beneath the City, Lives are "In Transit"

Review: In Transit

The cast of In Transit.

While musical theatre has always been a collaborative art form, seeing four credited writers on the new a cappella musical In Transit does raise the fear that too many cooks will spoil the proverbial broth. Thankfully, like the artful vocal arrangements that permeate the show, the varied sensibilities of the show's writing team seamlessly blend into a harmonious whole, creating a vibrant and exciting tapestry that mimics the hustle and bustle of the New York City subway system.

In Transit follows the interconnecting lives of various New Yorkers trying to find their footing in a city that can seem overwhelming and uncaring, but is also alive with an unending supply of hopes and dreams. There's Jane, the 30-ish actress working a temp job while still pursing her big break. And Nate, an ex-finance guy who has gone from the lavish excesses of Wall Street to struggling to make ends meet. Trent and Steven are a loving gay couple trying to figure out how to break the happy news of their engagement to Trent's conservative mother. And poor Ali is struggling to move on with her life after being dumped by the guy she relocated across the country for.

Anyone who has been young in New York will instantly recognize these people, connecting with their plights in ways that may be uncomfortably real at times. Creators Kristen Anderson-Lopez, James-Allen Ford, Russ Kaplan, and Sara Wordsworth - who jointly share the book, music, and lyric credits - imbue each character with recognizable foibles and that peculiar mix of gumption and slight delusion necessary to survive in the Big Apple. The network of connections between the characters (Trent is Jane's agent, who begins dating Nate, who is Ali's brother) never feels forced, especially since the real New York is a city of equally convoluted relationships. You get the distinct impression that every character in the show is based on either a member of the writing team or one of their close friends, lending everyone a truthfulness that is refreshing in a sometimes stilted medium. These characters are neither living out Cinderella-style fantasies nor Shakespearean tragedies, but a charming blend of big and small victories and defeats that defines city life.

The show's book is heavy on NYC references, giving it a charming specificity which may also limit its appeal. Even among New Yorkers, more recent city transplants might not understand the special place Dr. Zizmor holds in long-time residents' hearts, or exactly why Trent and Steven are busy on the last Sunday in June. But even if the specifics confuse the tourists that have become Broadway's lifeblood, the character's emotions are universal and remain crystal clear throughout. For a show written by four people, everything feels remarkably of the same voice, with more unity and cohesion than some shows with writing teams half the size. The intermissionless 100 minutes does feel a tad long, and the narration provided by a subway denizen known only as Boxman seems extraneous, but overall In Transit is solidly constructed from beginning to end.

The a cappella score is similarly impressive, covering a wide range of musical styles and genres while maintaining a cohesive sound. Deke Sharon, the prolific a cappella arranger most famous for his work on the Pitch Perfect films, perhaps plays things a tad too safe with his choices, but there is a fullness to his work which really helps the score sing. The songs are well written, catchy, and expertly convey the uncertainty but growing maturity of your late twenties/early thirties.

The cast is brimming with talent, producing a cadre of fine performances with nary a clunker in the bunch. Margo Seibert is positively winsome as Jane, who is slowly realizing her big break may never come but also refuses to let the pressures of the real world totally snuff out her showbiz dreams. Justin Guarini and Telly Leung are both quite affecting as Trent and Steven respectively, with Guarini's late in the game performance of the song "Choosing Not to Know" perhaps the show's most touching moment. James Snyder takes the least sympathetic character of the bunch, obnoxious Wall Street broker Nate, and believably humbles him throughout the evening as he struggles to get back on his feet. Erin Mackey is charmingly neurotic as Ali, and big-voiced Moya Angela makes quite the impression in multiple roles, particularly during her rousing rendition of "A Little Friendly Advice," which will have you cheering even if the song's sentiment seems designed to make you uncomfortable.

Everything is kinetically staged by three-time Tony-winner Kathleen Marshall, whose choreographic background helps keep all the bodies moving in interesting ways even if the amount of pure dance is minimal. She makes excellent use of Donyale Werle's subway platform set, which is bisected by a conveyor belt which doubles as the subway train and a handy way to move the various set pieces on and off the stage. Everything is gorgeously lit by Donald Holder, and while the contemporary setting doesn't give costume designer Clint Ramos much chance to show off he does manage to sneak in a gloriously whimsical dress made entirely from Metrocards.

One hopes that the Great White Way can continue to support shows like In Transit, which in its own way manages to be somewhat revolutionary in both form and subject matter. There are plenty of shows about idealistic youths pursuing their dreams, and perhaps even more about disillusioned forty and fifty-somethings, but In Transit tackles the often underrepresented period between those two dramatic goldmines. Solidly constructed, lovingly staged, and expertly performed, In Transit is the kind of delightful mid-sized musical Broadway could use more of.

He Could Have Been a Contender

Review: Rocky

Let's try not to think about how disgusting and bloody Rocky's face must be right now.

The main message of Rocky the Film is that simply seeing something through to completion, despite whatever obstacles you may face, is its own form of winning.  And in that sense, everyone involved with Rocky the Musical should consider themselves huge winners, since the project has been met with huge amounts of skepticism since it was first announced.  Unfortunately, this interesting mess of a stage show fails to really go the distance, and was probably better off remaining an Oscar-winning film.

Rocky follows the titular down and out fighter from Philadelphia as he trains to take on undefeated heavyweight champion Apollo Creed in the "fight of the century."  Or at least, that's the plot of the second act; the first is almost entirely focused on the budding romance between Rocky and unassuming shop girl Adrian, and that narrative disassociation proves to be one of the show's biggest flaws.  Bookwriters Thomas Meehan and Sylvester Stallone (who also wrote and starred in the film version) can't seem to decide if the show's focus should be on the love story or the underdog sports story, and rather than interweaving the two plots they've awkwardly segregated them, to the detriment of both. 

The first act has some beautiful, nuanced scenes between Rocky and Adrian that really take the time to believably develop their relationship, only to have the pair suddenly jump to being a committed, happy couple in the second act so the show can focus on Rocky's preparation for the big fight.  The transition is jarring, and the lack of boxing elements in the first act means the second is starting from square one in terms of stakes and audience engagement.  Anyone who was interested in Rocky and Adrian's evolving relationship has to subside on what they were shown in the first half, because it's barely even mentioned in Act II.

Meehan and Stallone also don't seem to know what to do with the various supporting characters, who are either underdeveloped, serve no real narrative purpose, or both.  Adrian's brother Paulie is introduced as a nice guy who initially brings Rocky and Adrian together, only to suddenly morph into an insufferable alcoholic who all the characters despise but tolerate for unknown reasons.  The show goes to great lengths to establish the resentment Rocky harbors against unsupportive gym owner Mickey, but immediately after a particularly intense confrontation Rocky takes him on as a coach, despite have told him mere seconds before to get lost.  The book does little to illustrate what motivates such massive shifts in attitude, and most of it feels like manufactured conflict because the show's real antagonist, Apollo Creed, barely interacts with anyone until the final fight.

Meanwhile, the score by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens can at best be called unmemorable, and in all honesty probably merits harsher adjectives.  This is particularly disappointing as Flaherty and Ahrens among the greatest songwriting duos in the history of the musical theatre, easily the equal of Kander and Ebb or Rodgers and Hammerstein, and together they have written some of the greatest scores of the past 30 years.  Rocky is nowhere near their previous highs, barring the exception of the gorgeous Act I ballad "Raining" which serves as our first real introduction to Adrian.  The songs feel disconnected from the story; they work on their own as bits of musical storytelling, but are awkwardly inserted into book scenes that do nothing to set them up or build on what they establish.  They are also almost entirely forgettable, and are completely upstaged by the inclusion of "Eye of the Tiger" two thirds of the way through (a song which is technically from Rocky III, but who's keeping track?).

The performances in Rocky are generally solid, although it is often uncomfortable to watch the actors struggle through such questionable material.  Andy Karl makes for a fine Rocky, tipping his hat to Sylvester Stallone's performance and mannerisms while still maintaining an air of authenticity.  Karl also has excellent chemistry with the Adrian of Broadway newcomer Margo Seibert, whose beautiful alto has the privilege of singing the score's best songs.  Together Karl and Seibert create the evening's most fully realized characters, and it's a shame the second act shifts focus away from their interactions.  Danny Mastrogiorgio sells every scene he's in as Paulie, even if the writing does little to provide a cohesive throughline for his actions.  The only weak link in the cast is Terence Archie's Apollo Creed, who looks the part but comes across as a borderline offensive caricature of African-American stereotypes (a problem made all the more shocking when one considers that Flaherty and Ahrens are responsible for Ragtime, one of the greatest gifts ever given to singing actors of color).

The staging by rising director Alex Timbers (which is intrinsically tied to Christopher Barreca's Rubik's cube of a set) is a mixed bag, simultaneously impressive and underwhelming.  The smaller, character focused first act is overwhelmed by the massive, constantly moving set, while the larger, more spectacle-oriented second half isn't visually interesting enough to overcome the weakness of the storytelling.  Rocky feels like a small-scale show that has been unsuccessfully blown up in order to fill the massive Winter Garden Theatre, and while watching Barreca's set reconfigure itself into various settings is impressive it is not emotionally involving.  The one genuinely thrilling sequence is the fourth wall-breaking final fight, which moves the action out into the audience and is unlike anything seen on a Broadway stage.  This electrifying set piece goes a long way towards making you forget about the shortcomings of the previous two hours, and if one thing can be said about Rocky, it's that the show ends on its highest note.

Overall, Rocky is a noble but misguided effort that doesn't really have a discernible target audience.  The book and score aren't sophisticated enough for high minded audiences, nor are they entertaining enough for those who just want to have a good time.  The size and spectacle of the physical production overwhelms the intimate love story the writers are trying to tell, without being impressive enough to hold our attention on its own.  Rocky was never a property that begged for musicalization, and the unwieldy show that has resulted confirms it would have been better served by remaining an iconic film.  The show isn't quite awful enough to be a career killer for anyone involved (all of whom are established talents to begin with), but it also won't be high on the list of their greatest achievements.  Like Rocky himself, let's give everyone involved credit for trying and move on with our lives.