Review: BAD ASS BEAUTY Packs a Girl-Powered Punch, But Could Use A Bit Of Work

Going into Bad Ass Beauty, a new musical that debuted at the New York Musical Festival this year, I wanted to love it. Advertised as a rock opera with a theme of female empowerment, it sounded exactly like the kind of show I'm a sucker for.

The musical tells the story of Aralyn Ford, also known as Alpha Female (played by LaQuinta Prince), and her journey of finding herself after a difficult childhood and the many trials and tribulations of life.

The audience is immediately swept away into a concert, led by Aralyn and two other women named "Bad Ass" (Stefanie Seskin) and "Beauty" (Jameelah Leaundra). While not initially clear, these two women are Aralyn's alter egos. It is briefly noted in both story and song that Aralyn has four other personalities as well, which she calls the Four Horsemen. While their photos are onstage throughout almost the entire show after they are first introduced, they are rarely mentioned and add nothing to the plot.

The musical begins with Aralyn telling the story of her childhood, and how she was influenced by growing up with an abusive father. The backbone of the life story that follows is a series of Aralyn's failed relationships. The story being centered around her relationships with men left a bad taste in my mouth. While it is noted that she had many self-made accomplishments, launching an agency and kick-starting the career of an actor (whom she also dated), the main plot points are the men who wronged her. For a story that is advertised as being about a woman finding herself, it should be about more than just the men she dated. The story jumps around a bit as well, making it difficult to discern which man she is discussing at which time.

This confusion could also be due to the lack of preparation on the actors' part. The show has a lot of lines, especially for Prince, who carries the story with her anecdotal monologues. But many times throughout, especially in the second half, lines were being fed to her by the band's backup singers known as the "Calliope Singers," played by Pam West and Laura MacLean. Scenes would get repeated, songs would get skipped, and it created an overall choppy and confusing experience to watch.

Prince wrote the lyrics and music for the show, which is loosely based on her own life. She formed the real band Bad Ass Beauty in 2014. It is clear that she is passionate about every word she sings, and she has a killer voice to boot. The audience would hoot and holler whenever she hit a particularly impressive note.

Seated on the stage right side, I was directly in front of where Leaundra, playing Beauty, was usually showing off her moves. Her performance was a highlight, bringing softness and sincerity to her lines, and dancing the, admittedly simple, choreography with confidence and passion.

Seskin, on the stage left side, appeared to not know the moves at all, glancing over at Leaundra almost every time they were dancing, assumedly to figure out what steps the pair was supposed to be doing. That proved to be distracting throughout the show.

Bad Ass Beauty's heart is in the right place. I felt for Aralyn's story. I was rooting for her and wanted her to succeed after the negativity life threw her way. With a bit more preparation on the part of the actors, and some tweaking to the book, this rock opera could have audiences up and cheering at a future performance.

To post a comment, you must register and login.