Today is Sunday, and this week’s Report features reviews of Monte Cristo, My Joy is Heavy, Safety Not Guaranteed, and The Wild Party; and a reappraisal of Chez Joey. Plus, a quote of the week; select press announcements from the past week; and a list of the upcoming week’s previews and openings.

---

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

The lyric, by Lorenz Hart, for “This Funny World,” from the 1926 musical Betsy, and currently featured in Chez Joey.

A mop! A broom! A pail!
The stuff my dreams are made of!
You hope, you strive, you fail!
The world’s a place you’re not afraid of.
But soon you’re brought down to earth,
And you learn what your dream was worth.

This funny world
Makes fun of the things that you strive for.
This funny world
Can laugh at the dreams you’re alive for.
If you’re beaten, conceal it!
There’s no pity for you.
For the world cannot feel it.
Just keep to yourself.
Weep to yourself.
This funny world
Can turn right around
And forget you.
It’s always sure
To roll right along when you’re through.
If you are broke,
You shouldn’t mind.
It’s all a joke,
For you will find,
This funny world
Is making fun of you.

---

THE WILD PARTY AT NEW YORK CITY CENTER

The Wild Party, a 2000 musical based on the 1928 narrative poem, is currently playing a two-week engagement at New York City Center under the auspices of Encores! It has a book by Michael John LaChiusa and George C. Wolfe, lyrics and music by LaChiusa, and direction by Lili-Anne Brown, and it is consistently uneven, in material, staging, and performance.

The musical unfolds in a single evening and a single act, running roughly two hours, and the structure and composition are faulty, resulting in, among other things, an unproductive repetitiveness, a character imbalance, and an inconsistent narrative. The party, hosted by Queenie and Burrs, does not accelerate or devolve into madness, nor does the snap into madness register as definitive, especially given the lack of a definite narrative language, and the madness does not accelerate or devolve into death.

Several moments, like “Eddie and Mae,” “Everyone Has Their Secrets,” and “Wouldn’t It Be Nice?,” are mechanical, and “Everyone Has Their Secrets,” in particular, is horribly done – an entirely unnatural back-and-forth between dialogue and lyric. Some moments, like “Gold and Goldberg,” are plainly forced. The underscoring, in multiple instances, is damaging, opting for a sedentary vamp instead of a meticulously sculpted instrumental with a dramatic development, propelling the attendant moment and, in turn, the musical. (See: “Best Friend.”) A reference to Billy Rose is, in terms of the implied meaning based upon the name association, anachronistic, for Billy Rose did not actually get to be Billy Rose until the 1930s. LaChiusa and Wolfe have not crafted expert – or sometimes even clean – entrances for most of the characters, including Queenie, and the current staging makes several of the entrances even worse, in part because the door to Queenie and Burrs’ apartment is upstage center underneath the orchestra and behind two pillars. (Arnel Sancianco is responsible for the ill-considered scenic design.)

The staging and the choreography, by Katie Spelman, oscillate between elementary and nondistinctive, marked by pelvic thrusts and in-one strides. Jordan Donica, Lesli Margherita, Tonya Pinkins, and Jasmine Amy Rogers are giving unsatisfactory performances, and Adrienne Warren, a wonderful presence, seems to have been miscast in a nothing role, evidently lacking the robust bass notes necessary for her numbers. (“Black is a Moocher” hardly smolders.)

The Wild Party is a terminally mediocre piece of theatre – given a terminally mediocre production. But one cannot deny the potency of the sonic tapestry that LaChiusa has created, aided by the fine orchestrations of Bruce Coughlin, and one cannot deny the tastiness and the theatricality of many of the lyrics. Even though the lyrics and the music are part of the problem.

---

MY JOY IS HEAVY AT NEW YORK THEATRE WORKSHOP

My Joy is Heavy opened an Off-Broadway engagement last Tuesday at New York Theatre Workshop. It is written and performed by Abigail and Shaun Bengson and directed by Rachel Chavkin, and it is an unskilled and bizarrely superficial affair. The musical runs 70 minutes, and it purports to tell the story of the Bengsons’ miscarriage during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the Bengsons have chosen to reveal almost nothing of themselves or their ordeal, opting instead for arms-length headlines and innocuous filler. Nearly everything about the piece is poorly done – even the songs, which harbor intriguing ideas that have gone undeveloped. But the scenic design, by Lee Jellinek, is attractive and functional, emitting a certain personality, and providing the authors and their director with multiple playing spaces – which the authors and their director have failed to effectively exploit. Shaun Bengson, furthermore, is a terribly weak performer, and no one seems to have accounted for that. My Joy is Heavy might have been a special piece of theatre, but what the Bengsons and Chavkin have created is ridiculous.

---

MONTE CRISTO AT THEATRE AT ST. JEAN’S

Monte Cristo, a new musical based on the novel and the play, is currently playing an engagement at the Theatre at St. Jean’s under the auspices of the York Theatre. It has a book and lyrics by Peter Kellogg, music by Stephen Weiner, and direction by Peter Flynn, and it is a flagrantly amateur affair. End of story.

---

SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED AT SIGNATURE THEATRE

Safety Not Guaranteed, a new musical based on the 2012 film, is currently playing an engagement at Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia, after previously having been seen, in an entirely different production, as part of the Next Wave series at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 2024. It has a book by Nick Blaemire and lyrics and music by Ryan Miller, and it has, over the last year, blossomed into a distinctive, gloriously theatrical stage show, currently shopping for a home in the top drawer. My review was published on Friday, and it includes a detailed punch list that the creative team might consider moving forward.

---

A REAPPRAISAL OF CHEZ JOEY

Chez Joey, a new musical based on the 1940 musical Pal Joey, concludes a pre-Broadway engagement this afternoon at Arena Stage in Washington, DC. It has a book by Richard LaGravenese, lyrics by Lorenz Hart, music by Richard Rodgers, and direction by Savion Glover and Tony Goldwyn, and, in my initial review, I called it a happy surprise, with the potential to be a great piece of theatre. Last weekend, I had the opportunity to revisit the jazz-drenched affair, and I must emphatically reiterate that it is on the cusp of greatness, already chock full of theatrical wonders.

One such wonder is the opening sequence – nay, ballet – which finds an underground nightclub on the South Side of Chicago coming to life, during off hours, effectively building the exhilarating world of the show before our eyes, courtesy of a seemingly spontaneous, carefully calibrated combination of arrivals, adlibbed conversations, and rehearsal preparations, underscored by the six-piece band and devoid of any formal dance. The ballet segues directly into a brief rehearsal of “You Mustn’t Kick It Around,” which segues directly into an underscored scene of dialogue, which segues directly into a command performance, by the club’s owner, of “There’s a Small Hotel.” The finish of “There’s a Small Hotel” is the musical’s first applause break, and the finish is, at present, of the manufactured “musical theatre” sort. But the preceding ten or so minutes are, in concept and largely in execution, extraordinary – which does not preclude refinements, in the service of the story, perhaps to better lay the foundation for certain plot points and character motivations; nor does it preclude a new finish, for “There’s a Small Hotel,” that is more specific to the world of the show.

LaGravenese & Co. introduce an exciting narrative tap motif very effectively when the club’s hoofers, soon after the finish of “There’s a Small Hotel,” pound out rhythms with their feet while casually carrying on a conversation with Joey. But the other instances of the motif need cleaning, especially in the transition to Joey’s phone call with Vera. The motif currently culminates with the eleven o’clock number, “This Funny World,” which does not land, in large part because of the inadequate lyric. And one wonders if that number should not be transformed into a wordless tap ballet – a personal reckoning for the central figure, in Sound. Such a transformation might have the added benefit of allowing the scattershot (and unmotivated) ballet at the top of the second act to become a story- and plot-driven action sequence.

The sporadic use of a microphone stand, in the club, is senseless, given most of the nightclub numbers are done without a microphone. The reconciliation between Linda and Joey might be allotted more stage time, especially since Linda slowly fades into the background – and slowly loses her fire – after the mid-point of the first act. And the transition from the reconciliation to the opening of the new club should be sharper.

Chez Joey has the potential to be an electrifying, incredibly well done affair. Here is hoping it will arrive in New York as such.

---

PRESS ANNOUNCEMENTS

Here is a list of select press announcements from the past week. Each headline is clickable for more information.

• Music City to Delay Performances Due to Issues with the Venue
• Bad News Bears Musical Will Premiere in 2027 in San Francisco
• Solea Pfeiffer and Liisi LaFontaine to Star in Wanted on Broadway This Fall
• Manu Narayan and Kuhoo Verma Will Star in The Lunchbox at Berkeley Rep
• Bucks County Playhouse Names Broadway Veteran BT McNicholl as Producing Artistic Director
• J. Antonio Rodriguez and Alex De Bard Will Star in I & You: The Musical at the Olney
• Andrew R. Butler, Barbara Walsh, and More Join the Cast of New Musical The Potluck
• Lea Michele Sets Departure Date from Chess on Broadway
• Jennifer Leigh Warren, Michael Thomas Grant, More Complete Cast of L.A. Millennials Are Killing Musicals
• Elizabeth A. Davis to Join Vampire Pop Opera Blood/Love Off-Broadway
• Jesse Malin’s Silver Manhattan Extends Off-Broadway Run
• The Office! A Musical Parody Extends Off-Broadway
• Shoshana Bean, Jenn Colella, Amber Iman and More to Join Signs of Life Concert

---

PREVIEWS AND OPENINGS

Here is a list of the new musicals and revivals either opening or beginning previews during the upcoming week, specifically on Broadway and Off-Broadway. It contains, as well, select new musicals beginning performances regionally, and select new musicals and revivals beginning performances in New York City. Each title is clickable for more information.

Monday, March 23

Tuesday, March 24

Wednesday, March 25

Thursday, March 26
• Previews: The Rocky Horror Show
• Previews: Titaníque

Friday, March 27
• Previews: The Lost Boys
• Previews: Beaches

Saturday, March 28

Sunday, March 29
• Opening: No Singing in the Navy

Photo of a scene from the New York City Center production of The Wild Party by Joan Marcus.