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REVIEW:  American Repertory Theater’s world premiere an imaginative and optimistic ‘Wonder the Musical’

Posted on by The Sleepless Critic

A violet pixelated galactic sky is marvelously portrayed from a spaceship bed and that is only the beginning.

Garrett McNally delivers a moving portrayal as inquisitive Auggie whose vibrant imagination spans the vast cosmos. Born with Treacher Collins Syndrome, Auggie’s world has always been limited to home schooling.  However, when Auggie is about to attend fifth grade, Alison Luff as Auggie’s practical mother Isabel insists he attend public school.  With guarded optimism, Auggie ventures apprehensively on this new journey.

Nathan Salstone, Garrett McNally, and members of the cast of Wonder.
Photo: Hawver and Hall

Insightfully directed by Taibi Magar with Katie Spelman’s enchanting choreography and Ryan Cantwell’s uplifting music direction, American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) continues its world premiere of Wonder the Musical recently extended through Sunday, February 15 live and in person at Loeb Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  This family-friendly and engaging production is approximately 2 hours and 10 minutes with one intermission. Click here for more information and for tickets.

In 2012, R.J Palachio’s first novel Wonder became a New York Times best seller before it was adapted into a heartwarming 2017 film of the same name starring Julia Roberts, Owen Wilson and Jacob Tremblay.  It seems only natural that this remarkable story has now been warmly transformed into a compelling musical.

Wonder Production Photo Nathan Salstone, Javier Muñoz, Alison Luff, Garrett McNally, and Kaylin Hedges in Wonder.
Photo: Hawver and Hall

Though Wonder is not based on a true story, Auggie’s story draws from real life experiences of individuals who struggle with this craniofacial condition.  It tackles bullying, prejudice, empathy and kindness, but what sets this intriguing musical apart is how it delves into perspectives.  Auggie may be the central figure in this musical, but a large part of the story focuses on each character’s perspective and the unexpected struggles of those who seem to have it better than Auggie at first glance.  Learning to walk in another’s shoes has never been so important.

Set designer Matt Saunders with lighting designer Bradley King richly articulates this glowing musical’s significant themes symbolically through a multicolored and animated pixilated landscape rhythmically peppering a revolving stage. These pixels can enhance, enliven and moderate the musical’s weightier scenes, but particularly illuminating Auggie’s amazing cosmic universe. Imaginative backpacks, colorful streamers, expressive T-shirts and detailed, fanciful costumes are just a sample of Linda Cho’s exuberant costume design.

Wonder Production Photo Alison Luff and Garrett McNally in Wonder.
Photo: Hawver and Hall

Wonder boasts its share of feel good moments featuring a strong cast. The chiming pop-infused score with lyrics and music by A Great Big World with Cody Spencer’s robust sound design keeps the show hopeful and optimistic even in the face of its heavier and poignant moments. Alison Luff as Isabel, Javier Muñoz as Nate, Kaylin Hedges as Via and Garrett McNally share a natural tight-knit chemistry facing the world as Hedges as Via affectionately calls her family ‘our little galaxy.’ There is a quiet earnestness built into this family when they step aside for one another. Hedges brings an affinity to this complex role with quiet yearning as Via through soaring vocals who consistently puts Auggie first in her solo, Around the Sun.  Luff and McNally share a stirring bond in a fiddle-laden and powerful rendition of You are Beautiful. 

Led by Melvin Abston as energetic Mr. Tushman, Beecher Prep School teachers share an idyllic infectious glee, enthusiasm, and occasionally lovable awkwardness as they navigate the curriculum with verve and charm.

Wonder Production Photo
Garrett McNally and Donovan Louis Bazemore in Wonder.
Photo: Hawver and Hall

Skylar Matthews charismatically shines as excitable and precocious theatre student Charlotte, especially during her engaging solo, You Didn’t Hear it From Me as she waltzes across the stage.   Donovan Louis Bazemore seamlessly navigates conflicted Jack who brings warmth and sincerity to the number, Shoes.  Paravi shows off sharp comedic timing while lightening a heartfelt moment with Hedges.

Garrett McNally (Auggie) and the cast of A.R.T.’s world-premiere production of Wonder bow in front of the Opening Night audience.

Nathan Salstone is no ordinary Moon Boy.  From the exciting 3-2-1 Blast Off and throughout the production, Salstone’s mellifluous vocals and reflective demeanor with Auggie brilliantly elevates each scene.

Wonder is an intuitive, imaginative and heartfelt creation that celebrates the value of loyalty and friendship while sharing significant life lessons prevalent for all ages. You may step away from Wonder the Musical seeing a brighter world too.

American Repertory Theater continues its world premiere of Wonder the Musical recently extended through Sunday, February 15 live and in person at Loeb Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  Click here for more information and for tickets.

REVIEW: Central Square Theater brings Lloyd Suh’s ‘The Chinese Lady’ to light

Posted on by The Sleepless Critic

Afung Moy is majestic, idealistic, and beautiful. In 1834, she has set foot on American soil from China at just 14 years of age to share her background, culture, and experiences. However, the details behind her arrival as well as her time and purpose in the United States is where the real story lies.

Directed impressively by Sarah Shin and in partnership with the Chuang Stage, Central Square Theater reveals a little known yet impactful figure in Lloyd Suh’s The Chinese Lady live and in person at Central Square Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts through December 11. This semi-interactive production is 90 minutes with no intermission. Click here for more information and for tickets.

Sophorl Ngin as Afung in ‘The Chinese Lady’ Photo credit to Nile Scott Studios.

The Chinese Lady is gripping from the start and much of that is due to its two powerful leads that at first share amiable banter, humor, and building tension. With bright and expressive eyes, Sophorl Ngin depicts Afung Moy with compelling curiosity as she gradually discovers the life that has been set out in front of her. Ngin’s sweet and understated ingenuity beams adorned in exquisitely-detailed gold embroidered lavender and lilac attire crowned with a colorful guan by costume designer Sandra Zhihan Jia.

Scenic designer Qinan Zhang has a meticulous eye for detail and each piece of furniture and prop provides a significant purpose. Nothing in this vast room is just for show. Translucent curtains blanket the room and add a mysterious quality to the space. Steel structures hang above a Chinese floral blossoms arrangement and the matching end tables and chair quickly become essential to this historical account.

Jae Woo as Atung and Sophorl Ngin as Afung Photo credit to Nile Scott Studios

From China’s history of inventing tea to the gruesome details of foot binding, Ngin delivers her lines pragmatically and with a cheery glow, treating her time onstage at first an adventure with delusions of grandeur. With a wide eyed countenance, Ngin brilliantly depicts Afung from her imaginative humor and naivete to the subtle evolution in her ripened demeanor, weary walk, and her conflicted style of speaking as years gradually progress. The Chinese Lady is confronted with the ugly side of humanity and lays it bare as her time slowly fades into a land she has little choice but to adapt to it.

Ngin as Afung and Jae Woo as her older translator and guide Atung illustrate their absorbing camaraderie as they embody their complex characters, particularly exemplified in a chilling scene with the President. This intense and carefully executed scene is riveting and difficult to witness, but punctuates the sheer marvel of these two together onstage. Jae Woo portrays Atung as mysterious, subdued, polite, and unassuming as he keeps himself as minimal as the furniture. He is kind, protective, and squarely knows his place, but hints at a painfully buried intensity. Woo handles this complicated and austere character with tight lipped finesse in spite of or more hauntingly, because of all he has been through.

Sophorl Ngin as Afung and Jae Woo as Atung Photo credit to Nile Scott Studios

The Chinese Lady is best experienced without revealing the true nature of the story. Afung’s endearing personality provides a temporary distraction of what is actually happening onstage. Director Sarah Shin and author Lloyd Suh’s clever unfolding of historical and contemporary events and the actors’ subtle navigation in their performances on issues that are anything but subtle are weaved into a striking and message driven historical work that peels away that subtlety piece by piece and by the final act, leaves everything astonishingly and unsettling bare.

Jae Woo as Atung and Sophorl Ngin as Afung Photo credit to Nile Scott Studios

Central Square Theater reveals a little known yet impactful historical figure in Lloyd Suh’s The Chinese Lady live and in person at Central Square Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts through December 11. This semi-interactive performance is 90 minutes with no intermission. Click here for more information and tickets.

REVIEW: Merrimack Repertory Theatre’s ‘Until the Flood’ a raw, complex, and gripping docu-drama

Posted on by The Sleepless Critic

Until the Flood begs the question, “How do you want to be remembered?”

Director Timothy Douglas frames a poignant, moving portrait of a community in pain with Merrimack Repertory Theatre’s virtual docu-drama Until the Flood continuing through Wednesday, May 5. The content of this program is not recommended for youth under age 16.  This program was originally commissioned by The Repertory Theatre of Saint Louis.  Click here for more information on Merrimack Repertory Theatre and how to stream the show.

Based on real life accounts gathered in 2014 by Pulitzer prize-winning finalist Dael Orlandersmith, Until the Flood delves deep into the emotional and complicated perspectives and recollections of this community and how it affected each person following the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. 

Maiesha McQueen in one person show ‘Until the Flood’ Photo courtesy of Kathy Wittman/MRT

A colorful, makeshift memorial is strewn on a chain link fence shrouded in a blue, haunting darkness.  Sirens ring out in the distance amid tingling and powerful music.  Merrimack Repertory Theatre’s Until the Flood sets a foreboding undertone through Lindsay Jones’s chilling sound design and Bill Clarke’s haunting and true-to-life set pieces.

Encapsulating all the anguish, uncertainty, doubt, fears, and hope is Maiesha McQueen in a tour-de-force performance onstage as she takes on eight individual composites drawn from real life interviews in this one person show.  From a 17 year-old teenager to a 75 year-old retired police officer, McQueen digs into the heart of each individual and delivers the kind of multi-layered performance that flows with each individual.  From a subtle head tilt and a tumult of emotion brewing in her eyes to the careful movements and creaking in her bones as she takes on the persona of an ailing senior to the confident swagger of a teenager that feels like he can take on the world, McQueen writhes and broods with each character.  Dressed in colorful and consistent street clothes by Yao Chen, each perspective and recollection made by each individual is fleshed out and brought together by McQueen as she pours herself into each character and makes each stand on their own.  Her pliability transforms her stature, stance, rage, compassion, sadness, and anger “like the flood” over the state of the world. 

Until the Flood provides not only each individual account of what they heard, saw, or experienced of the Michael Brown shooting, but a deeper look into how each person lived their life before and after this harrowing incident within this community.  It is a raw, gripping look at how ugly and how beautiful a society can be and how easily friendships can change when people do not see eye-to-eye.  It delves into anger that can be unleashed too easily, anguish, sadness, harrowing fear, and unbridled hope in fellow human beings in spite of life’s sorrowful circumstances.  Most of all, it presents a fairly even handed, but complex account of what truly motivates human nature and how fear and hope takes shape.

Merrimack Repertory Theatre, located in Lowell, Massachusetts continues streaming Until the Flood through Wednesday, May 5.  Click here for more information and tickets.