Behind The Limelight: Romance In Modern Times

"Look at all the people," sings Hanna Chaplin (Janet Metz) to her young lad Charlie (Danny Hallowell), inspiring him to keenly observe the crowded streets of 1890's London and imagine the stories that might lie behind the faces he sees every day.  In Christopher Curtis' (book, music & lyrics) extremely promising musical, Behind The Limelight, this is how the performer who defined the silent movie age learned the art of pantomime. 

Although the author does a bit of fudging with history, having an elderly Chaplin (Robert Langdon Lloyd) watching the musical while seated in a corner chair gives the impression that we're seeing something akin to a Hollywood biopic, condensing and refining the facts for the sake of a good story.  And it's quite a story.  Taken from his impoverished mother and raised in an orphanage, Chaplin (Luther Creek for the bulk of the show) becomes a music hall star (though called vaudeville by Curtis) who gets summoned to Hollywood by Mack Sennett (Joel Hurt Jones), but finds that his style of comedy doesn't satisfy his American boss until he recalls his mother's advice and creates the 20th Century's first world famous personality.  Through a silent art that defied boundaries of language and a new technology that could quickly distribute that art around the globe, no human was ever before capable of becoming so famous so fast. 

Under Michael Unger's lively direction, Act I plays out this part of the story with deft musical theatre craft, sweetness and fun.  Creek is quite lovable and in fine voice as the rising star and handles his physical comedy with a flair.  Edna Purviance (played with gentle charm by Brooke Sunny Moriber) is introduced as a romantic interest and there's foreshadowing of troubles ahead via the infamous gossip columnist Hedda Hopper (Andrea McArdle).  (Although in real life Hopper was still an actress during that time period.) 

But for all the rambunctious enthusiasm in Act I, Curtis fails to find an emotional thrust for Act II.  Opening with the disclosure of Charlie's infidelity, Edna steps out of the story too quickly with a defiant "Somebody's Going To Love Me More."  Moriber sizzles with the vocals, but the song gives us too clean and easy a breakup.  There's no sympathy for Chaplin as he sleeps through an assortment of women before finding future wife Oona (Garrett Long).  The script paints him as emotionless, or at least underwritten, in his relationships.  Though McArdle is a snazzy Hopper and belts her one jazzy solo like there's no tomorrow, the columnist's determination to undermine Chaplin's fame by questioning his morals and his loyalty to the country that made him wealthy is presented as no more than an act of revenge for his not granting her an interview.  The only empathy to be found in the second half comes from Sean Palmer, who sings beautifully as Charlie's selfless and supportive brother, Sydney. 

But despite it's problems, there's a richly textured score and a lot of heart to be found in Behind The Limelight. And unlike many musicals you see in festivals like NYMF, this one, with it's opportunities for bustling street scenes, rowdy music hall numbers and Hollywood glamour, seems to require a large Broadway-sized production in order to do it right.