New York City. 1863. The Civil War raged on. An extraordinary thing occurred amid the dangerous streets and crumbling tenement houses of the Five Points, the notorious 19th-century Lower Manhattan slum. Irish immigrants escaping the devastation of the Great Famine settled alongside free-born Black Americans and those who escaped slavery, arriving by means of the Underground Railroad. The Irish, relegated at that time to the lowest rung of America's social status, received a sympathetic welcome from their Black neighbors (who enjoyed only slightly better treatment in the burgeoning industrial-era city). The two communities co-existed, intermarried, raised families, and shared their cultures in this unlikeliest of neighborhoods.
Unfortunately, for a story set during the Civil War, Paradise Square sometimes seems at war with itself. The captivating choreography is rarely well-integrated into director Moises Kaufman's stand-and-sing staging - which also makes it devilishly difficult to connect emotionally to the characters. The large ensemble, likewise, feels too big on a stage dominated by a giant industrial-looking set piece meant to represent Nellie's bar; it rotates often, and somewhat pointlessly, as it looks pretty much the same on both sides. (Allen Moyer is the designer.)
The show genuinely wants to be entertaining, of course, and much of the time it succeeds. It movingly celebrates the power of love and of families we make for ourselves. But it does not want to offer the traditional cathartic comfort of musicals; rather, it seeks to reflect all the pain these struggling characters feel. And thus 'Paradise Square' will survive on Broadway only if audiences are willing to see that these artists are doing their best not just to reckon with the past, but to make the radical (for a musical) point that the present is not so much better.
2019 | San Francisco (Regional) |
World Premiere Berkeley Production San Francisco (Regional) |
2022 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2022 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Actress in a Musical | Joaquina Kalukango |
2022 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Choreography | Bill T. Jones |
2022 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Music | Jason Howland |
2022 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Wig and Hair | Matthew B. Armentrout |
2022 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Awards | Joaquina Kalukango |
2022 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Actress in a Musical | Joaquina Kalukango |
2022 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Choreography | Bill T. Jones |
2022 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Choreography | Alex Sanchez |
2022 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Choreography | Garrett Coleman |
2022 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Choreography | Jason Oremus |
2022 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Director of a Musical | Moisés Kaufman |
2022 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical | A.J. Shively |
2022 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding New Broadway Musical | Paradise Square |
2022 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Orchestrations | Jason Howland |
2022 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Score | Jason Howland |
2022 | Tony Awards | Best Book of a Musical | Christina Anderson |
2022 | Tony Awards | Best Choreography | Bill T. Jones |
2022 | Tony Awards | Best Costume Design of a Musical | Toni-Leslie James |
2022 | Tony Awards | Best Lighting Design of a Musical | Donald Holder |
2022 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Paradise Square |
2022 | Tony Awards | Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre | Jason Howland |
2022 | Tony Awards | Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre | Jason Howland |
2022 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical | Sidney DuPont |
2022 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical | A.J. Shively |
2022 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical | Joaquina Kalukango |
2022 | Tony Awards | Best Scenic Design of a Musical | Allen Moyer |
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