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My review of "Harmony" in New York City - I saw it last night!
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Steven Goldstein
Mar 24, 2022, 9:50:47 PM3/24/22
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Hi, everyone, from Steven. I’m one of the original members of this newsgroup, having joined in 1995. How time flies between then, when I was 33, and now, age 60. I post this not knowing if the newsgroup still exists, given that most of the entries the last couple of years have been spam. I’ll take the chance.
Last night, I saw the first-night preview performance of Barry and Bruce’s “Harmony” at the Museum of Jewish Heritage theatre in Manhattan. Folks, I am telling you objectively it was one of the greatest theatre musicals I’ve ever seen. My jaw still cannot get off the floor.
Lest you think I’m just a meshugana Fanilow who would like anything Barry and Bruce do, some of you will recall that when I saw the show at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles in 2014, I reviewed it as a somewhat above average show, not great, with flaws. I loved Barry’s music but thought Bruce’s book needed a ton of work. Frankly, the newspaper reviews said the same.
What I saw last night was an entirely different show. In interviews, Bruce said he did a massive rewrite during the pandemic. That is an understatement. It felt like a whole new book, and it is now A+ brilliant. Bruce presents the narrative from a new, far more inventive perspective, mostly through the addition of a new character. I don’t want to say more, lest I spoil it for those of you planning to see the show in New York.
What the show is now, which is wasn’t before, is textured and sophisticated, with a level of character development that was absent in its previous iteration. I actually cared deeply about all the characters and was able to differentiate them clearly, unlike before.
For whatever reason, this cast is head and shoulders above that which I saw in L.A. Every single member of this cast acted with compelling subtlety yet poignancy. If this show were on Broadway, Chip Zien, the lead in this production, would be a lock for a Tony nomination and the odds-on-favorite to win it. He was remarkable – but then again, they all were.
Warren Carlyle, the director this time around, completely reimagined the show visually. The direction in Los Angeles was clunky. This time, under Carlyle, the direction was, well, here’s that word again – sophisticated. The set, which was horrible in Los Angeles, is completely different and updated to be state-of-the-art in terms of theatre sets today. It, along with the lighting, were breathtaking.
I wept like a baby for the final 15 minutes of the show. I was deeply shaken in the best sense of the word, and stayed that way for a half-hour driving home in my car.
Never have I seen a show so transformed. Am I saying that it is worth it for you to fly to New York just to see the show? I am saying precisely that. As a Broadway theatre queen, let me tell you, this show is as good as any musical that’s been uptown on Broadway in years and years. There’s a word in Yiddish that keeps coming to mind about the show’s heartbreaking saga over the past 25 years. That word is bashert, which means happily meant to be. If 25 years is what it took for this show to come together as I saw for the first time last night, then I say it’s bashert on acid.
I just bought tickets to see “Harmony” at its last performance on Sunday, May 8. Hopefully it won’t be the last performance at all.
Harmony: A+, five stars out of five.
Last night, I saw the first-night preview performance of Barry and Bruce’s “Harmony” at the Museum of Jewish Heritage theatre in Manhattan. Folks, I am telling you objectively it was one of the greatest theatre musicals I’ve ever seen. My jaw still cannot get off the floor.
Lest you think I’m just a meshugana Fanilow who would like anything Barry and Bruce do, some of you will recall that when I saw the show at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles in 2014, I reviewed it as a somewhat above average show, not great, with flaws. I loved Barry’s music but thought Bruce’s book needed a ton of work. Frankly, the newspaper reviews said the same.
What I saw last night was an entirely different show. In interviews, Bruce said he did a massive rewrite during the pandemic. That is an understatement. It felt like a whole new book, and it is now A+ brilliant. Bruce presents the narrative from a new, far more inventive perspective, mostly through the addition of a new character. I don’t want to say more, lest I spoil it for those of you planning to see the show in New York.
What the show is now, which is wasn’t before, is textured and sophisticated, with a level of character development that was absent in its previous iteration. I actually cared deeply about all the characters and was able to differentiate them clearly, unlike before.
For whatever reason, this cast is head and shoulders above that which I saw in L.A. Every single member of this cast acted with compelling subtlety yet poignancy. If this show were on Broadway, Chip Zien, the lead in this production, would be a lock for a Tony nomination and the odds-on-favorite to win it. He was remarkable – but then again, they all were.
Warren Carlyle, the director this time around, completely reimagined the show visually. The direction in Los Angeles was clunky. This time, under Carlyle, the direction was, well, here’s that word again – sophisticated. The set, which was horrible in Los Angeles, is completely different and updated to be state-of-the-art in terms of theatre sets today. It, along with the lighting, were breathtaking.
I wept like a baby for the final 15 minutes of the show. I was deeply shaken in the best sense of the word, and stayed that way for a half-hour driving home in my car.
Never have I seen a show so transformed. Am I saying that it is worth it for you to fly to New York just to see the show? I am saying precisely that. As a Broadway theatre queen, let me tell you, this show is as good as any musical that’s been uptown on Broadway in years and years. There’s a word in Yiddish that keeps coming to mind about the show’s heartbreaking saga over the past 25 years. That word is bashert, which means happily meant to be. If 25 years is what it took for this show to come together as I saw for the first time last night, then I say it’s bashert on acid.
I just bought tickets to see “Harmony” at its last performance on Sunday, May 8. Hopefully it won’t be the last performance at all.
Harmony: A+, five stars out of five.
dcsharon
Mar 25, 2022, 10:18:46 AM3/25/22
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Thanks for your review. I saw Harmony in LaJolla and LA (and agreed with your review regarding the LA show). I thought the book was challenging in several respects in both productions (more so LA than LaJolla), and totally disliked the use of "F" bombs (my mother, born in 1922, wouldn't say that word - EVER) so when I heard it, it took me out of the story and moved me to present-day.
Glad some things have changed with the book.
I'm in NYC in 2 weeks for Music Man, Josh Groban and Mr. Saturday Night. Unfortunately, the schedule didn't work to see Harmony this trip.
Thanks for taking the time to write your review.
(DC) Sharon
Glad some things have changed with the book.
I'm in NYC in 2 weeks for Music Man, Josh Groban and Mr. Saturday Night. Unfortunately, the schedule didn't work to see Harmony this trip.
Thanks for taking the time to write your review.
(DC) Sharon
marvin
Apr 26, 2022, 8:36:36 AM4/26/22
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