Tag: jukebox musical

‘MJ’ pays homage to moonwalking superstar

One of many flashy moments from the touring production of MJ: The Musical (Photo by Mathew Murphy of MurphyMade)

By Richard Ades

A good fireworks show begins with a “wow” and ends with a “WOW,” filling the space in between with enough peaks to fuel our anticipation. MJ: The Musical, based on the life of Michael Jackson, follows that formula almost exactly.

The action has barely begun when the title character (an amazing Jamaal Fields-Green) launches into an MTV-worthy rendition of the Jackson classic “Whip It.” Then, nearly 2½ hours later, the show is only minutes from its finale when it delivers the song-and-dance number we’ve all been waiting for: “Thriller.”

And by the way: When I say “delivers,” imagine the word being followed by multiple exclamation points. The number is so over-the-top astounding that it alone would nearly justify the original Broadway production’s Tonys for choreography (Christopher Wheeldon, who also directs), lighting design (Natasha Katz) and sound design (Gareth Owen).

In between these two high points, it must be said, the production falls a bit short of a good fireworks show’s standards. There are impressive peaks here and there, but there are also valleys that slow down the momentum.

Set in 1992 during a rehearsal for Jackson’s upcoming “Dangerous” world tour, the jukebox musical addresses some of the rumors then swirling around the “King of Pop.” These are uncovered with help from nosy documentary maker Rachel (Cecilia Petrush) and her cameraman, Alejandro (Anthony J. Garcia).

Through flashbacks, the show also introduces us to two earlier Jackson incarnations: the Jackson 5’s pipsqueak frontman (alternately played by Josiah Benson and Bane Griffith) and the young adult seeking to launch a solo career (Erik Hamilton).

Also featured in the flashbacks are the rest of the Jackson family, including the mom, Katherine (Anastasia Talley), and dad, Joseph (Devin Bowles). Bowles plays the latter as a domineering bully who pushed his talented children relentlessly and was particularly abusive toward young Michael.

The implication is that Joseph’s behavior was responsible for MJ’s later problems, but the argument is only partially convincing. To some extent, that’s because Jackson had so many problems and eccentricities, some of which didn’t come out until after the musical’s time frame, that it’s hard to pin them all on any single source.

Despite his flaws, the one undeniable thing you can say about Michael Jackson is that he was a showman of the first degree, and MJ is most successful when it concentrates on that fact. Along with singing, dancing was obviously central to his appeal, and his devotion to the craft comes out brilliantly in an Act II fantasy that shows him trading steps with virtuosos who apparently inspired him: Fred Astaire, Bob Fosse and the tapdancing Nicholas Brothers.

Though all of the cast members sing and dance well, it clearly takes a special skillset to portray someone as unique as Michael Jackson. In the original Broadway production, Myles Frost filled the bill and thereby won the show’s fourth and final Tony.

In the current touring production, Fields-Green displays the voice, the moonwalk and all the other flourishes that won the King of Pop his title. (Jordan Markus alternates in the role at some performances.)

Fields-Green’s portrayal, backed up by a stellar band and some of the most awe-inspiring stagecraft you’ll ever see, makes MJ a pulse-quickening trip down memory lane.

MJ: The Musical runs through Sept. 15 at the Ohio Theatre, 39 E. State St., Columbus. Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. through Friday, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sunday. Running time: 2 hours, 40 minutes (including intermission). For ticket information, visit columbus.broadway.com. For information on future tour stops, visit tour.mjthemusical.com.

Celebrating the birth and rebirth of Tina Turner

Zurin Villanueva holds forth as Tina Turner in the North American Tour of Tina: The Tina Turner Musical. (Photo by Matthew Murphy for MurphyMade)

By Richard Ades

Tina: The Tina Turner Musical opens as the queen of rock psyches herself up for a concert that she hopes will relaunch her career.

The show eventually takes us to that concert, but not before it recaps Turner’s years’ worth of struggles with parents who abandoned her and a husband who abused her. It’s a long and painful journey that’s sometimes touching and other times, well, not. You may even be tempted to leave early, as a few audience members did toward the end of Tuesday’s opening night at the Ohio Theatre.

But don’t. I repeat, DO NOT LEAVE. Because when the show finally takes us to that concert, it may well be the best time you’ve had in ages.

With a book by Katori Hall, Frank Ketelaar and Kees Prins, Tina is a jukebox musical that revisits Turner’s classic hits while covering the highlights and (mostly) the lowlights of her life. After premiering in London in 2018, it opened the following year on Broadway, where it garnered a bevy of Tony nominations but won only for lead performer Adrienne Warren.

That suggests that the musical rises and falls on the strength of the performer who plays Tina, and how could it be otherwise? In the case of the touring production now visiting Columbus, it definitely rises, though not immediately. On Tuesday, Zurin Villanueva at first held forth with a voice that seemed too thin to do the role justice, but she gradually began adding elements of Tina’s iconic tones. By the time she launched into “River Deep—Mountain High,” she was Tina Turner.

Was Villanueva holding back in the beginning to dramatize the title character’s evolution into the powerhouse performer she would become? Likely. At any rate, she just kept getting better and better in a role that left her onstage and belting out tunes through most of the show. (Ari Groover takes over the demanding role in alternate performances.)

Anyone familiar with Tina Turner knows that she got her start (and her stage name) thanks to rock performer Ike Turner, who made her his lead singer and later married her, even though she was already pregnant with another musician’s child. It’s also well known that Ike was a physically abusive control freak. In the touring show, Deon Releford-Lee plays Ike as an all-out cad, though the script does give him a touch of humanity by revealing some of the Mississippi native’s disturbing brushes with Jim Crow racism.

When Tina at long last rebels against Ike’s brutality, it’s one of the show’s most moving moments, especially since it’s followed by the gorgeous “I Don’t Wanna Fight No More.” Tina’s struggles, however, have just begun, as she then spends years trying to reinvent herself as a solo performer.

Complicating her quest, the script suggests, is her understandable fear of submitting to another man’s control following her separation from Ike. This makes her cautious when an Australian music producer named Roger Davies (Dylan S. Wallach) appears out of nowhere and offers to help restart her career.  

Besides the talented folks already mentioned, top cast members include Carla R. Stewart as Tina’s supportive grandmother; Roz White as her mother; Gigi Lewis as her sister; Gerard M. Williams as Raymond, her first love; and Sarah Bockel as her manager, Rhonda. Worthy of special mention are Brianna Cameron and Symphony King, who alternate in the role of Anna-Mae, the girl who grows up to be Tina Turner.

Though the show sometimes drags things out a bit, especially during Act II, director Phyllida Lloyd mostly moves it along at a comfortable pace that escalates into pure exuberance during the spirited musical numbers. A dynamite band under Dani Lee Hutch’s direction accompanies the numbers, while choreographer Anthony Van Laast brings them to life by recreating Tina’s energetic dance moves.

Equally important are the behind-the-scenes technicians who back up the show’s dramatic and musical components with consistently compelling stage pictures, including lighting designer Bruno Poet and set/costume designer Mark Thompson. “Compelling,” by the way, turns into “gloriously over-the-top” once that final concert begins.

One final note: Don’t leave before the curtain call, and don’t leave after the curtain call, either, because that’s only the beginning of an extended “encore” that is the highlight of the entire evening.

Broadway in Columbus and CAPA will present Tina: The Tina Turner Musical through May 12 at the Ohio Theatre, 39 E. State St., Columbus. Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. through Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, and 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sunday. Running time: 3 hours (including intermission and encore). For ticket information, visit columbus.broadway.com. For information about upcoming tour stops, visit tinaonbroadway.com/tickets/.

Carole King musical is a tapestry of nostalgic sights and sounds

Julia Knitel as Carole King in the Broadway in Columbus/CAPA presentation of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical (Photos by Joan Marcus)

By Richard Ades

Pop memories mix with Broadway pizzazz in Beautiful: The Carole King Musical.

The titular singer-songwriter won multiple Grammys in 1971 with Tapestry, an album that voiced the joys, fears and regrets of an entire generation. Beautiful, a jukebox musical written by Douglas McGrath, explains how King became the person who created the iconic work.

The journey begins when King (winningly played by Julia Knitel) is a precocious 16-year-old who’s determined to forge a career writing pop songs. Despite multiple rejections, she persuades her mom (Alaina Mills) to let her try one more time by taking her latest tune to a recording studio on Times Square.

There she meets two men who will play crucial roles in her career: record producer Don Kirshner (James Clow), who is won over by her pop lament It Might as Well Rain Until September; and Gerry Goffin (Liam Tobin), a lyricist who quickly becomes her partner in music and in life.

In most jukebox musicals, the plot exists only to tie together a slew of popular songs. In Beautiful, the plot exists to explain how those songs came to be. Because King’s tunes have so much emotional resonance for those who grew up with them, the story has built-in appeal. We want to know what turned this nerdy, self-effacing teen into the older but wiser, sadder but stronger talent who poured her aching heart out in Tapestry.

In the touring show, that appeal helps to make up for a central relationship that seems iffy from the start because Tobin’s Goffin comes across as someone who is as self-absorbed as he is brilliant. King may think he’s worth the effort, but viewers are apt to be less convinced.

Gathered around the piano (from left): Curt Bouril as Don Kirshner, Liam Tobin as Gerry Goffin, Julia Knitel as Carole King, Ben Fankhauser as Barry Mann and Erika Olson as Cynthia Weil

Oddly, it’s easier to root for another songwriting couple who become friendly competitors to King and Goffin. Lyricist Cynthia Weil (Erika Olson) is sassy and sarcastic, while composer Barry Mann (Ben Fankhauser) is a lovable hypochondriac. The two create both laughs and romantic sparks whenever they’re onstage.

Under Marc Bruni’s direction, the show flows smoothly and efficiently from one scene or song to the next. Derek McLane’s scenery, Peter Kaczorowski’s lighting and Alejo Vietti’s costumes combine to create stage pictures that are both glitzy and elegant. The production numbers are particularly gorgeous and benefit from Josh Prince’s choreography, which often parodies moves favored by early groups such as the Shirelles and the Drifters (both of which make guest “appearances”).

My personal favorite among the production numbers: the Drifters’ rendition of On Broadway, one of the Weil-Mann hits. But there are many other musical moments, both big and intimate, that will tempt viewers to sing along. (But don’t, please—you’ll get your chance during the curtain call.)

My only musical complaint is that Knitel sometimes strays from the well-known King melodies, as if trying to make them her own. Since she’s playing King, she really ought to stick to the original notes. Overall, though, she vocalizes beautifully, often capturing the singer’s timbre without doing an outright impersonation. The rest of the cast sings equally well and is expertly backed up by conductor Susan Draus and her band.

Beautiful may not hit as many emotional moments as it could, but it lives up to its name both visually and aurally while delivering a nutritious serving of nostalgia.

Broadway in Columbus and CAPA will present Beautiful: The Carole King Musical through Sunday (June 11) at the Ohio Theatre, 39 E. State St., Columbus. Show times are 7:30 p.m. through Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, and 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sunday. Running time: 2 hours, 30 minutes (including intermission). Tickets are $39-$246. 614-469-0939, 1-800-745-3000, broadway.columbus.com, capa.com or ticketmaster.com.

Ridiculous plot is only an excuse to sing ’80s rock tunes

Drew (John Boyd), Lonny (Guillermo Jemmott) and Dennis Dupree (Brandon Anderson) hold forth in Shadowbox Live’s Rock of Ages (Photos by Tommy Feisel)

By Richard Ades

Jukebox musicals are a pretty silly invention, and Rock of Ages is sillier than most. Faced with the task of building a plot around popular rock tunes from the 1980s, book writer Chris D’Arienzo came up with a doozy:

A father-and-son team of German developers (Tom Cardinal and Billy DePetro) want to bulldoze Hollywood’s Sunset Strip and evict the rock fans who live and work there. Why? Presumably, to make money with a redevelopment scheme, but we all know the real reason is to give the cast an excuse to sing Starship’s We Built This City (on rock ’n’ roll) and a host of other ’80s classics.

Franz (Billy DePetro, left) watches as his father, Hertz (Tom Cardinal), persuades the mayor (Nikkii Davis) to back a plan to bulldoze Sunset Strip.

The plot is so ridiculous that the musical doesn’t even pretend to be anything but what it is: a musical. In the first few minutes, narrator and “sound god” Lonny (Guillermo Jemmott) admits he’s adding a romance to the proceedings simply because musicals have to have a romance.

We then meet would-be rock star Drew (John Boyd), who quickly falls in love with would-be movie star Sherrie (Amy Lay), just arrived from Kansas. Following the usual pattern, their relationship undergoes a series of hiccups and misunderstandings that keeps them apart until—well, until a host of other ’80s songs have been sung and danced to.

When I first saw Rock of Ages in 2010, I was able to embrace its silliness thanks to the touring show’s sweetly sincere portrayal of Drew and to outrageous costume designs that were like an oversexed version of what folks really wore during the Reagan decade. Shadowbox’s production, directed by Julie Klein, is only slightly more restrained on the style side, and Boyd is appealingly sincere as Drew. He also sings very well.

Drew (John Boyd) falls in love with Sherrie (Amy Lay) because, well, someone has to fall in love or it wouldn’t be a musical.

Most of the other cast members are equally in tune, musically and otherwise. Besides those already mentioned, they include Brandon Anderson as club owner Dennis Dupree, Jamie Barrow as sleazy rock star Stacee Jaxx, Ashley Pearce as protest leader Regina, Eryn Reynolds as talent agent Ja’Keith, Nikki Davis as the corrupt mayor and Noelle Anderson (alternating with Stacie Boord) as gentlemen’s club owner Justice.

Speaking of the gentlemen’s club, Lay’s Sherrie is amusingly inept when she takes a job there and tries her hand at pole dancing. Overall, though, I wish she came across as less of a shallow hick, which makes it even harder than it otherwise would be to care about whether she and Drew hook up.

To pick another nit, I wish DePetro’s Franz were a bit less, um, swishy. I realize the portrayal is meant to set up a joke about effeminate German mannerisms (presumably the kind Craig Ferguson used to spoof to excess on The Late Late Show), but DePetro overshoots the mark. (German mark? Get it? Never mind.)

Back to the good stuff: Accompanied by a boisterous five-piece band, the cast rocks out on vintage classics like Any Way You Want It, Don’t Stop Believin’, The Final Countdown, Hit Me With Your Best Shot, Just Like Paradise and many others. Even though the plot is reasonably entertaining, especially during Act 2, cover songs like these are the real reason for buying a ticket.

In a jukebox musical, that’s as it should be.

Rock of Ages continues through Aug. 27 at Shadowbox Live, 503 S. Front St., Columbus. Show times: 2 and 7 p.m. select Sundays. Running time: 2 hours, 20 minutes (including intermission). Tickets: $20-$25. 614-416-7625 or shadowboxlive.org.