BWW Reviews: LIFT Keeps Moving On Up

There isn't much that can be said or done in a minute - neither accomplished nor expressed in so short a time, especially in an era where the significance of each tick of the second hand is only in anticipation of the next moment, not having much importance in itself. In this era, a minute can be used to answer a ringing cellphone, change the song on one's iPod, or even to take a quick glance at the time in anticipation of the next moment in a person's busy schedule. Yet, never has a minute meant so much as it does in Lift where, figuratively, a minute is all it takes to delve into the yearnings of the human heart through the silence that can only be broken amongst strangers in the confines of a moving lift, right in the heart of London's Covent Garden Tube station.

Straight from an extremely popular run at London's Soho Theatre earlier this year, director and Beautiful Soup Theatre founder Steven Carl McCasland has brought Craig Adams' and Ian Watson's musical (originally developed by Perfect Pitch) to the stage for its American debut, bringing its powerful story to life with an extremely talented cast and a rockin' band, led by Will Shuler. The musical follows eight characters, complete strangers until the music begins to play, and the lives they conceal as they take a usual, unexciting ride on the morning lift. Almost Beckettian in its style (if Beckett were alive to see his characters break out into song), the simplicity of the show's basis transforms before the audience's eyes into something beautiful: from knowing absolutely nothing about these characters that stand together in this lift aside from what assumptions can be made about them simply by looking, their lives are revealed through stories in the inspiring way only a musical can properly convey.

Eight people step into a lift, and such a mundane occurrence in everyday life is offset by the randomness of their careers and the spectacular way in which this has little to do with the feelings they hide behind their eyes. Eight people: the secretary, the ballet dancer, the busker, the bright young thing, the French teacher, the lap dancer and two tourists. Each person, literally forced to stop and wait for the ascending lift to take him or her to the next point, is unaware of how closely connected each of them is to the person standing opposite. Even if the Secretary (played by Erin Elizabeth Eichhorn) knows the Bright Young Thing (Randall Glen Taylor), she cannot say how she feels (even though he feels the same way); even though the Lap dancer (Samantha Mercado-Tudda) named Sarah shares a name with the false love interest of the Dancer (Netanel Bellaishe), there isn't any way for her to become this person who has gotten closer to him than she ever can. While the Busker (Spencer Kurtti) and the French Teacher (Kimberly Faye Greenberg) grieve over the loss of those no longer with them, the two American tourists (Morgan DeTonge and Jeff Van Damme) somehow transform themselves into people who "belong" in the story, even though their status as tourists do not give them much leeway to become members of the group around them.

When these characters begin to express what ails them in life, there is such a bond formed between these people, that the audience is compelled to think about the nature of humankind, in general. Couldn't each of us somehow become the characters in this musical? Haven't each of us experienced some emotion felt by these characters that was held back or concealed, leading others to believe in a mere façade in place of the true person hiding behind a shell? Lift is rather metaphysical in its concept, and brings about so many different questions that are applicable to this "what if?" question: What happens if people could simply say how they feel to those who matter most? What happens if a person simply dropped the façade behind which he or she hides and appeared before the world as is? What happens if each of us can just be human, and not hide behind our feelings as a reason for inaction, but simply SAY what is on our mind? Why is it that strangers need hear the lovesick, regretful words intended for someone else?

What is fascinating that the mere "idea" of revealing one's feelings leaves the audience with the desire to stop questioning with these characters, and with the fear in mind of becoming one of them, to simply go forth and make actions speak as loud as words. The ending is more inspiring than the beginning, even though they are almost mirror images of each other. So saying, time in this musical is not used only to delve into thoughts and ideas that are raring to surface in the mind of each character, but it emphasizes how complex yet simple the life of each human being is, and how, as different as we are, we are all in this cosmic loop of confusion, pressure and lies that ultimately comprise who we are.

With music by Craig Adams, Lift gives the audience a taste of what the contemporary musical sounds like: it's edgy, in your face and quite powerful in its dynamics. The stark lighting on stage does wonders to complement the emotions experienced by the characters on stage, proving how the entire team is savvy to the mental disarray happening on stage, and how to best play on that. The theatre itself is small but personal, which is why it works so well for this production; why would an audience member expect the grandeur of a Broadway stage when this show is so in-depth and thought provoking? - it hardly requires grandeur to work. This is a musical that, in its simplicity, forces one to think about life as it already is, and questions whether or not, beneath the superficial beings we are each day, there is something so much more to be found that connects us in a way no one can ever have fathomed. In the director's own words, "For me, the show is most importantly about missed connections. It's about the moments in between our hellos and goodbyes. It's about the ways we sometimes miss the beauty right in front of our eyes. And about the ways we sometimes we forget the beauty we possess inside."

Kudos on a beautiful production, indeed.

McCasland and Beautiful Soup focus on works that have either been forgotten, or perhaps never even brought to stage; with this musical, people are sure not to forget what they have seen. Lift opened on November 13th and will continue its run at the Richmond Shepard Theatre, located at 309 E. 26th Street (on 2nd Avenue) through November 24th. Tickets can be purchased online at http://www.beautifulsoup.showclix.com/. In addition, proceeds from ticket sales will go towards Broadway Impact, a community of actors, directors and a plethora of theatre people with a shared belief in and support of marriage equality.

Photo Credit: Steven Carl McCasland

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