Back to Broadway: Catching up with the magic after a long pandemic break

I grew up in a New Jersey suburb of New York City, and once I discovered Broadway, I can’t remember there ever being more than a few months or a year between visits to see shows, even after I moved to Florida.

The pandemic kept me away for three years, and I felt I had so much catching up to do during a long-weekend return for the first in-person gathering of the American Theatre Critics Association since 2019.

Everything felt simultaneously the same and different. Some favorite restaurants are still there, many with patrons filling newly installed shelter-like additions in the street. Others were victims of the long loss of business while COVID kept theaters shut down.

The theater business came back more than a year ago and has faced its own struggles, particularly with tourists, who helped keep long-running shows like “The Phantom of the Opera” going. That Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, the longest-running in Broadway history, opened in 1988 and will close in April.

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In addition to the pandemic, there has been a racial reckoning triggered by the killing of George Floyd, which has helped, to some degree, diversify the shows and artists appearing on Broadway. There are more plays by Black writers being produced, meaning more stories being told and seen by a broader group of patrons.

I managed to see five shows over four days, ranging from the serious discussions of antisemitism and assimilation over many decades in Vienna in Tom Stoppard’s impactful “Leopoldstadt” to the traditional song-and-dance style of the newly opened “Some Like it Hot,” and the utterly delightful “Kimberly Akimbo.” All these shows find ways to entertain and engage while dealing with substantial issues that touch your heart and mind.

And there’s also a newly opened Museum of Broadway, providing an overview of the history of the commercial theater industry that has defined the city. I hope to visit on my next trip. In the meantime, here’s a look at what I saw.

'A Strange Loop'

Michael R. Jackson’s semi-autobiographical musical tells the story of a gay Black theater usher writing a musical about a gay Black theater usher. That’s just part of the loop as Usher tries to escape from a troubled childhood with strict and religious parents who never knew what to make of him. He is filled with self-loathing and doubt, expressed by the six other actors who play his self-destructive inner thoughts, getting in the way of his creativity. It’s frank, harsh, dense and often joyous with a boisterous and moving score. The show won Tony Awards for best musical and best book of a musical

Jacquel Sivey was nominated for a Tony award for his performance as Usher, a highly stressed, overworked and underpaid creative person trying to find love and someone to pay attention to his work. He tries so hard to stay upbeat as the six Thoughts attempt to keep him grounded in his own reality. But the musical offers hope that Usher may break out of that loop, in a wild sequence that takes him back home in some variation of a Tyler Perry movie that is alternately hilarious and horrifying.

Jackson has been a fellow at the Hermitage Artist Retreat on Manasota Key, where he most recently was working on his next show, “White Girl in Danger,” which is due to open off-Broadway in the spring.

“A Strange Loop” finds ways to stretch the art form of musical theater. It’s not going to be to everyone’s taste, but those eager to see the art form growing and stretching will want to experience it before it closes a too-brief run on Jan. 15.

“A Strange Loop” by Michael R. Jackson, directed by Stephen Brackett, is playing through Jan. 15 at the Lyceum Theatre, 149 W. 45th St., New York, NY. Strangeloopmusical.com

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'Kimberly Akimbo'

I fell in love with David Lindsay-Abaire’s off-beat comic drama “Kimberly Akimbo” at the Manhattan Theatre Club in 2003. And I have fallen in love with the story all over again in the new musical version he has created with Jeanine Tesori (another Hermitage fellow). Both are Pulitzer Prize winners.

Lindsay-Abaire is the author of such shows as “Fuddy Mears,” “Rabbit Hole” and “Good People,” and Tesori wrote the scores for “Fun Home,” “Caroline, or Change,” “Thoroughly Modern Millie” and more. They first collaborated on the stage version of the animated hit “Shrek,” and they bring a special kind of magic to “Kimberly,” which opened on Nov. 10. It manages to capture all the quirky charm of the play and make it even better, more inspiring and uplifting and engaging.

It tells the story of a 16-year-old girl named Kimberly who has a condition that causes her to age quickly so she looks like she’s in her 60s. But as played by the radiant Victoria Clark, Kimberly is every bit a teenager, optimistic, shy, awkward and fun-loving. She’s saddled with a detached pregnant mother (beautifully played by Alli Mauzey), an alcoholic father (understudy Jim Hogan at the performance I saw), who tries to better himself, and an ex-con aunt (a wildly creative Bonnie MIlligan) who ropes Kim and her friends to help her with a mail fraud scheme.

Kimberly becomes friends with another nerdy awkward kid named Seth, played by Justin Cooley, an expressive young actor making his Broadway debut just a year after graduating high school. And what a debut. Seth works at an ice rink where all the kids hang out, and he forms an unlikely but lovely bond with Kimberly. You want to go on adventures with them.

Tesori’s score is vibrant, bold and often captivating, giving each of the main characters at least one big number, and Lindsay-Abaire has found a way to turn his dialogue into lyrics to enrich the storytelling. The result is a musical with so much heart and humor it often seems to be bursting.

“Kimberly Akimbo” is playing at the Booth theatre, 222 W. 45th St., New York, NY. kimberlyakimbothemusical.com

'Leopoldstadt'

As the curtain rises on Tom Stoppard’s latest play “Leopoldstadt,” you can’t help but be overwhelmed by the large number of people on the stage. I can’t remember the last time I saw so many actors in a non-musical. Many of them are children playing characters who we will better come to know later as adults as the play spans nearly 60 years and depicts the impact of the Holocaust on a once-prominent, expansive and mostly Jewish family in Vienna from 1899 to 1955.

Despite the darkness that pervades the story, Stoppard makes you laugh even as you know how tragic the events are to come. The production, staged by Patrick Marber and beautifully designed by Richard Hudson and costumer Brigitte Reiffenstuel, is a harrowing look at the loss of a family that turned a blind eye to the realities around them.

Members of the extended family of Hermann Merz (played by David Krumholtz) believe assimilation and holding prominent positions in cultural and political life will assure their safety if dark days ever arise. They are lulled into a false sense of security before the foreboding heavy knock on the door arrives during Kristallnacht to rip them all apart.

It is a powerful and moving story, one that is simultaneously comforting – all those kids and their parents and cousins make you feel a bit cozy – and disturbing at the same time, especially when we see images of the family tree that will be splintered before the end.

In a Broadway scene that is awash with theme park rides and jukebox shows, it is welcome to see a play of substance and depth finding an audience and knowing that there are thousands out there eager to be mentally stimulated and challenged.

“Leopoldstadt” is playing at the Longacre Theatre, 220 W. 48th St., New York, NY. leopoldstadtplay.com

'Some Like it Hot'

Did we really need another show about men in dresses? After recent productions of “Tootsie” and “Mrs. Doubtfire” failed to overcome the dated storytelling of once-popular movies, I was curious how the new musical version of the 1959 film comedy classic “Some Like it Hot” would hold up to modern attitudes about gender identity. Old jokes about men in drag don’t work anymore.

The Billy Wilder film starred Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis as two Chicago musicians in the 1920s who witness a gang killing and dress as women to join a touring all-female band to get away from danger. Curtis’s Joe falls in love with the band singer Sugar (Marilyn Monroe) and Lemmon’s Jerry somehow falls for the millionaire Osgood Fielding (Joe E. Lewis).

Simply setting songs to that same story wouldn’t play today. Book writers Matthew Lopez and Amber Ruffin, along with songwriters Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman (“Hairspray”) find a way to tell the same story in a vastly different way. It becomes a story of loving and respecting oneself and protecting each other, as well as challenging racial hatred.

It’s also about as close to the kind of old-fashioned song-and-dance show that people get nostalgic for, one that combines strong performances, catchy melodies, clever lyrics and exciting dance routines to raise your spirits. I saw the show in an early preview a month ahead of its official opening on Dec. 11.

Christian Borle as Joe and J. Harrison Ghee as Jerry form a dynamic partnership and they know how to sell a song and dance up a storm with the large chorus put together by director and choreographer Casey Nicholaw, one of the most inventive stagers working on Broadway these days. He fills the stage with an assortment of big tap numbers.

Adrianna Hicks gives us a Sugar with a dash of spice, while NaTasha Yvette Williams plays the bandleader Sweet Sue with a lot of spirit, and Kevin Del Aguila is flirtatious and aimless as the millionaire Osgood.

The film has one of the most famous ending lines in all of Hollywood history. Rather than repeat it, the writers play around with it, diffusing it of anything offensive while acknowledging those anticipating. It’s a smart move that caps off a fun lively production.

“Some Like it Hot” is playing at the Shubert Theatre, 225 W. 44th St., New York, NY. Somelikeithotmusical.com

'MJ'

As much as I enjoyed listening to and watching Michael Jackson as his career exploded, I have to admit feeling uneasy about the new musical biography crafted by director/choreographer Christopher Wheeldon and two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage. There’s just no getting around a show that celebrates his work, acknowledges some issues with the family and abuse by his father, Joe, but doesn’t deal with the indictments and accusations of child molestation that followed him to his death in 2009.

I expected a lot of flash, vibrant performances and impressive dancing, and on that level the show doesn’t disappoint. It explodes from one number to the next, from “Beat It” to a unique spin on “Thriller” as a sort of encore.

What I wasn’t expecting was to feel so detached from the characters. Nottage has created a story about Jackson’s costly efforts to get his 1993 Dangerous tour on its feet. It focuses on his perfectionism, his brilliance and his need to spend more and more. He mortgaged his Neverland Ranch to pay for the production, not sure he would make back his money.

You can appreciate his efforts even if you don’t care about them. It is interesting more than involving, though it does provide some perspective when you see how demanding Joe Jackson was, the pressure Michael always felt to deliver and support the family. But watching Dangerous come together left me a bit cold.

You can’t say that about loose-limbed Tony winner Myles Frost, who does a fine job of capturing some of the magic of the adult Michael Jackson (two other actors play young versions of Michael), with something approximating the jolt of adrenaline Jackson provided each time he took the stage. Frost is as agile in his singing as he in the choreography and often makes you think you are watching the real thing. But it is still an approximation of the original with some needed magic missing.

“MJ” is playing at the Neil Simon Theatre, 250 W. 52nd St., New York, NY. MJTheMusical.com

Follow Jay Handelman on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Contact him at jay.handelman@heraldtribune.com. And please support local journalism by subscribing to the Herald-Tribune.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Critic explores what is new on Broadway after a long pandemic break