The driving contrivance for the new musical "in transit" at Circle in the Square is its all acapella performance. Unfortunately, this show never pulls out of the station. The acapella musical numbers run on the local with rap, gospel, blues and razzle dazzle broadway tunes. Sadly there is neither razzle in the music and less dazzle in the story lines construed out of the 8,000,000 commuters daily in NYC. The plots derail with a wanna be Broadway musical star, temporarily working as a temp, a gal who dropped out of grad school to follow a guy ("and who hasn't") to NYC and then gets dropped, and a gay couple planning their wedding but one partner isn't planning on coming out of the closet to his mother. The one number with some zing was "Wingman." Friends watching a hockey game at sports bar choreograph sleek moves to help one of the guys score with a lady. But, the musical score is a snore and the characters stuck in banal situations "souls between stations." The emcee is Boxman, a subway performer trying to promote his own music. Boxman crosses paths with all the characters but his panhandling act doesn't pan out on the platform station. The spotty levity comes from common commuters' frustrations: unintelligible intercom information, hostile MTA confrontations, a rat taking out pizza and peeing on the tracks. "Don't sleep in the subway darlin' Don't stand in the pouring rain."* Don't buy a street umbrella and don't waste time on this uninspiring show. Skip "in transit" you'll find somewhere better to go. (*P Clark)
No comments:
Post a Comment
Don't be shy, let me know what you think