At the heart of New York City, 45th Street is an exciting place to be.
At one moment, Alice Paul recruits women suffragists to fight for their right to vote. Across the street, tensions are high between Greasers and Socs; rival gangs in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Next door, Noah and Allie find their way back to each other years after a youthful whirlwind summer romance.
In the bustling streets surrounding Times Square, audiences queue up at theatres, preparing to be whisked away by a Broadway show. And boy, are there a lot of shows to choose from.
Fifteen new musicals opened during the 2023-2024 Broadway season. Some saw jarring lows (Lempicka closed just over a month after opening), while others basked in glorious highs (in a show where five of the nine principal cast members are making their Broadway debut, The Outsiders garnered 12 Tony nominations).
It’s refreshing to see a year of theatre so rife with passion and talent. But make no mistake — in such a crowded season, some shows stand out more than others. As the June 16 Tony Awards approach, it’s impossible to award every work of art on Broadway.
With this in mind, I’ve had the privilege of seeing four of this year’s Tony-nominated new musicals, each of which deserves discussion and recognition in a riveting year of live theatre.
‘The Great Gatsby’ is a glimmering but shallow love story
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and previous film adaptations greatly portray the colour and grandeur of Jay Gatsby’s 1920s parties. But at the centre of most adaptations is the profound emptiness and fake splendour of the decade, anchored with the metaphor of Gatsby’s unattainable love for Daisy.
In Marc Bruni’s musical, that splendour eats up the limelight. The production reduces Gatsby and Daisy to ill-fated lovers. All other themes of hollowness and the sensationalized American Dream are lost.
Gatsby is big Broadway at its finest, as a classic but disastrous love story takes control. The colourful and breathtaking sets with the ensemble donning Linda Cho’s Tony-nominated glimmering costumes are pure glamour.
Alongside Jeremy Jordan’s unwavering vocals as the determined but arrogant Gatsby — his belts in “For Her” send a powerful ring throughout the room — and Eva Noblezada’s lovely, though vocally underused Daisy, are almost enough to make up for such lack of material substance.
A ray of greatness in the production is Noah J. Ricketts’s sensible Nick, Daisy’s cousin and Gatsby’s neighbour privy to the obnoxiousness of the era. Tear stains paint his face as the show reaches its end, and as the reckless antics catch up with the characters around him.
‘The Great Gatsby’ is playing at the Broadway Theatre.
‘The Notebook’ is a downpour of emotion
In contrast to Gatsby, the core of The Notebook is, and should be, the relationship between the two main characters.
Based on Nicholas Sparks’s novel, Noah and Allie, played by three separate couples (John Cardoza and Jordan Tyson as youths, Ryan Vasquez and Joy Woods as adults, and Dorian Harewood and Maryann Plunkett in old age), share a lifelong romance despite their contrasting lifestyles and upbringings.
What unfolds is an aching, decade-spanning love story, where Allie learns to put her own happiness above all else. When Woods’s Allie makes this revelation in her 11 o’clock number, “My Days,” it starts as a hesitant whisper of a wish and builds to a soaring belt of determination.
Ingrid Michaelson’s luscious score with folk-style influences sings gentle guitar and violin melodies, with sentimental (though sometimes too cutesy) lyrics sung by bright and emotional vocalists. Cardoza and Tyson blissfully emote youthful summer love during duets “Carry You Home” and “Sadness and Joy,” and Vasquez’s show stand-out “Leave The Light On” carries a mix of maturity and longing.
Harewood and Plunkett drive the show’s most poignant moments when the dramatics of Allie and Noah’s youth dissipate into a potent though imperfect love in old age.
With a pond at the front of the stage and a gorgeous rain scene when Vasquez’s Noah and Woods’s Allie rekindle their feelings, The Notebook is a downpour of emotion told stunningly through music and Bekah Brunstetter’s book, packed with feeling in every line of dialogue.
‘The Notebook’ is playing an open run at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre.
‘Lempicka’ packs in Broadway belts in campy, confounding production
Easily the most polarizing production of the season, Lempicka is the kind of show to become a short-lived theatre cult classic. The musical, directed by Rachel Chavkin, is an ambitious albeit discombobulating story about the life of Polish artist Tamara de Lempicka.
Matt Gould’s music is riveting, with both pop and jazz influences. But with ballad after ballad and unsubtle lyrics by Carson Kreitzer, the score’s vocal demands outrun the performers’ capacity. What avails is a show that’s exhausting to watch, with a few vocally demanding beasts — particularly “Woman Is” — running off pitch.
But the difficult vocals are through no fault of the undoubtedly talented performers. In the titular role, Eden Espinosa was consistent apart from the more belting numbers.
Especially alluring were Amber Iman’s Rafaela, a sultry free spirit and Lempicka’s love interest, and George Abud’s Marinetti, the founder of futurism. Abud’s “Perfection” is a booming, hectic number about the art movement.
The themes — the political developments of the era and a revolutionary artist’s drive to paint — are certainly interesting with wonderful potential for a musical adaptation. But the production is weighed down by its blurred focus and book, which fails to settle itself into a steady meaning.
‘Lempicka’ played at the Longacre Theatre from April 14 to May 19.
The trail blazes in ‘Suffs’
Suffs tracks Alice Paul and the group of women suffragists who, in 1920, won the right for some American women to vote.
Just as unrelenting as the suffragists’ efforts, Suffs blazes with unstoppable fire. (Literally — there’s real fire on stage when the suffragists burn a dummy version of President Wilson in front of the White House).
Shaina Taub’s score pays attention to its sounds and what they symbolize. Bouncy and contained woodwinds sound for Carrie Chapman Catt’s (played by a stoic Jenn Colella) songs, reflecting her by-the-book methods. Then mighty brass takes over for the brash and assertive actions of Paul (the warm but fiery Hawley Gould, an understudy at my performance).
Suffs demonstrates the tireless suffrage fight with passion. In her Broadway debut, Hannah Cruz is a vibrant suffragist Inez Milholland, prancing with flair and determination during protests and campaigns. But there are equal doses of humour: Group number “Great American Bitch” is a jaunty performance that shakes off the heckles spat at women during the movement.
And above all, the show is aware of the shortcomings in progress. In “Wait My Turn,” Nikki M. James as journalist and civil rights activist Ida B. Wells notes with conviction that Black women are left behind in the suffrage movement, halting equality for everyone.
And ultimately, Suffs wants us to keep the trail blazing. In the finale, “Keep Marching,” the suffragists address the audience and sing: “Yes, the world can be changed, ’cause we’ve done it before, so keep marching.”
It’s a heartwarming musical tribute to the activists at the time, and those to come.
‘Suffs’ is playing an open run at the Music Box Theatre.
Featured image by Alexa MacKie.
