BRITS ON BROADWAY: ROCK OF AGES Stands Firm In A Weak Market

In the run-up to my recent trip to the States, I was getting rather excited by the plethora of theatre-going options presented to me by Broadway. However, I kept hearing the phrase 'it's a lean year' whenever I researched further on the Broadwayworld boards, and though I didn't take too much notice at the time, unfortunately I have to report that this is indeed true.

In The Heights

I started off with a trip to In The Heights, the New York-centric story of a Washington Heights community and their lives and loves. While the score is incredible - brilliant songs that moved me to tears at times and made me laugh a lot at others - the book is so weak it had me wincing throughout. As with jukebox musical We Will Rock You over here in the UK, the singing and songs are absolutely fine, but once those come to a close everything grinds to a halt. For UK viewers, I don't think it helps that there are many chunks of the script in Spanish, jokes that only New Yorkers or Americans would get and a story that you could map out from the comfort of your own bed, it's so predictable (yup, it's boy meets girl, boy meets girl, etc). Having said all that, it seems to be doing pretty well with the audiences - attracting a non-traditional, very mixed and pretty full crowd to the theatre. This can only be a good thing. Make a visit, but just the once, and then buy the soundtrack - it's all kinds of incredible.

Worth watching: The majority of this cast! But to pick out just a few, the brilliant Javier Munoz as Usnavi, Janet Dacal as Nina (though I believe she has just left the production), Christopher Jackson as Benny and William Wingfield as Graffiti Pete.

Altar Boyz

Next up, the ever-popular Altar Boyz, running since 2005 off-Broadway at the New World Stages. Its cast changes around every six months (possibly to keep it fresh, possibly because of the wages...) but this really doesn't matter - the characters are what matters, and it's interesting to see how different actors slot into the roles of Matthew, Mark, Luke, Juan and Abraham, the members of a Christian boyband playing the last night of their Raise The Praise tour. Yes, it's fluffy and silly with little depth, but the songs still stand up years after the boyband craze dissipated, and it must be doing something right - it's the only off-Broadway show ever to recoup and still be going.

Worth watching: Michael Kadin Craig and Travis Nesbitt were standouts as Matthew and Mark, the leader and the lover of the leader, respectively.

The Toxic Avenger

Toxic Avenger is a difficult musical to discuss, because it treads a fine line between good and bad. Again, the concept is not immediately appealing to Brits - the tagline is New Jersey's First Superhero - and much humour is derived from making fun of the state. American Idol's Diana DeGarmo proved that her strengths lie with her vocals, as she fell down spectacularly on her acting as blind librarian Sarah, but captivated when she sang. Meanwhile, understudy Jason Wooten did a sterling job as mutant Toxie, though his chemistry with DeGarmo left much to be desired, though perhaps this was intentional!

Black Guy (Demond Green) and White Guy (Jonathan Root) were the highlights of the show. They were a pleasure to watch as they cycled through (to be honest, I'd go again just to watch Green's comic stylings and vocal warbling) a million and one different characters, from Sarah's best friend Shaniqua to an Italian hairdresser unable to say much besides 'yeeeeeeees'. I don't even want to think about how many outfit changes that incurred and how they managed to do so in such a short space of time (something Nancy Opel riffed off brilliantly as Mother/Mayor.

Worth watching: Demond Green and Jonathan Root as mentioned above

Hair

And so we come to Hair. Possibly the most over-hyped musical of the year, this is still selling very well despite the post-Labour Day slump, but having seen it - it's just not as good as it thinks it is. While the energy is undoubtedly terrific and the cast fun and talented, the story lacks cohesion and it all feels a bit limp when the upbeat numbers come to a close. It's all a little bit smug and knowing.

The thrill for the audience seems to lie mainly within the interactive element of the show - actors jumping into the audience, handing out flowers and posters, and even inviting them up onto the stage at the end of the show to dance. This is all well and exciting, but it does not a brilliant musical make, though obviously it makes most audience members' nights. There are fabulous songs - Aquarius and Hair itself in particular - but the hippy-dippy theme needs more direction.

On a more nitpicky point, the bad organisation of the theatre meant it took fifteen minutes to get across the foyer to the toilet queue, another ten to queue - meaning the second half had started by the time I returned to my seat. This is simply not good enough when you're paying top prices of $120. The proliferation of cast members also means it's hard to empathise with many of them, since we simply don't get to know them well enough during their brief moments of glory.

Worth watching: Andrew Kober as Margaret Mead, Bryce Ryness as Woof and Megan Lawrence as Buddhaladirama.

Next To Normal

Running a close second to Hair in the over-hyped stakes is Next To Normal, the unlikely musical about a depressed mother, her family and their myriad issues. A full theatre again greeted me, which is always a promising sign, especially in a downturn. Lead Alice Ripley, who plays mother Diana, recently won a Tony for her performance, which certainly seems to have succeeded in pulling in the punters. While there were moments of joy in this show - Aaron Tveit as son Gabe was a particular delight, as was his song I'm Alive, while J Robert Spencer as father Dan also showed off his vocal chops throughout, particularly excelling later on when he finally acknowledges Gabe (trying very hard not to spoiler here...). But, on the whole, it didn't intrigue, interest and excite like a truly good show should.

Have you ever had that thing where everyone else around you is thoroughly into something, laughing their heads off, sobbing as the emotions overcome them, but you're just not getting it at all? That was Next to Normal in a nutshell. With an unsatisfying ending and a slight tendency towards the hysterical, it was hard to take the first half seriously, partly due to the fantastical nature of Diana's illness. Ripley's voice was all over the place in the show I saw, eliciting winces at a number of points as she missed notes by a country mile - this is not something a Tony award winner should be doing. If your voice is shot, take a show off, lady! But don't get me wrong. I'm not saying Next To Normal is bad. It's just nowhere near as exceptional as it has been marketed to be.

Worth watching: Aaron Tveit as Gabe, J Robert Spencer as Dan

Rock of Ages

And finally, the unexpected gem of the lot. Rock of Ages is an extremely silly, undoubtedly trashy '80s hair music-themed show set on the Sunset Strip. Okay, so it's not highbrow and it's even more fluffy than Xanadu, but it's still a truly wonderful night out in the vein of Priscilla Queen of the Desert. The familiar music helps to get the audience into the show, treating you like a valued friend and scooping you up and into the onstage action. The music pounds so loudly through the theatre that you can't help but be caught up in the momentum of this exciting, hilarious show.

Don't go to Rock of Ages expecting to find huge amounts of heart, but do go in the mood to have a good time and you'll have one of the best evenings ever. With a uniformly strong cast (Mitchell Jarvis is particularly worth mentioning - I'm not entirely sure how well the show will work once he eventually meanders on to another one) and a rocking band, this is definitely the hot ticket on Broadway right now. Plus, it's rumoured to be coming to London in the next year or so, and it's definitely worth a catch if so - though I'm still not sure I approve of the whole 'serving drinks in the aisles throughout the show' thing!

Worth watching: James Carpinello as Stacee Jaxx, Mitchell Jarvis as The Narrator, the sadly departed Wesley Taylor as Franz (seriously, catch this man in his next show if you want to see a star on the rise) and the similarly departed Savannah Wise as Sherrie. Oh, and Jeremy Jordan, who understudies Drew, but who blows Constantine Maroulis out of the water (yes, I did go twice. What of it???)

So it's not all lame ducks, but it's certainly not Broadway's strongest season. With Jude Law's Hamlet failing to excite anyone other than autograph hunters, Gina Gershon keeping it non-spectacular in Bye Bye Birdie and A Steady Rain raking it in for the star casting rather than for a truly interesting play, you might be better off postponing your forthcoming theatre trip until next spring, when the charming London production of La Cage heads over, Addams Family Musical moves from Chicago to Broadway and Catch Me If You Can (hopefully with Aaron Tveit) joins them.

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