"The Happiest Song Plays Last" is a Lugubrious Ending for Hudes' Trilogy

"The Happiest Song Plays Last" at the 2nd Stage Theatre is the final play in play Quiara Hudes' Trilogy which starts with a trio of Latin musicians performing.  The musicians remained on set & played engagingly throughout the show.  Sadly, the musical score was the best part of this verbose play that attempted to cover too many issues all over the globe.  Hudes' won the Tony award for In the Heights ('08) a high energy musical of small town Puerto Rican girl made big.  The 2nd play in the Trilogy, Water by the Spoonful, received a well earned Pulitizer ('12) for its poignant writing & heartfelt connections made via the internet.  "The Happiest…" continues with the same close cousins, Elliot (Armando Riesco, reprising his prior roles) & Yaz (Lauren Velez.)  Yaz teaches music in a small Philly town. Yaz skypes regularly with Elliot, a former Iraqui war vet who combines his military experiences with his acting aspirations shooting a war film in Jordan.  Hudes broadens his scope from the confines of a "tight knit" Puerto Rican community in Philly to Elliots' international travels to Jordan, Egypt and Dubai.  The messages in "The Happiest…" are simultaneously melancholy, macabre, exultant and far too disjointed to make a cohesive and compelling play.  War is Hell and what the Hell are we doing fighting foreign wars when we have so many problems here at home.  The internet is again another character in this play which plays a major role in bringing the excitement of revolution in Egypt instantaneously out into the world.  Lefty (Anthony Chisholm) is a simple minded vagrant who looks out for neighborhood youngster & is cared for by the altruistic Yaz.  Chisholm plays his role so movingly that when he asked Yaz's forgiveness, I almost wanted to forgive the play its convoluted plot.  At least the band played on but the legacy of Hudes' Trilogy ends on a sour note.