Attended tonight’s performance so here’s my two cents:
I have no idea who Donna Summer is prior to the show. I have never heard of her music or her life story. Blame it on the generational gap if you must throw stones. Hence, I am reviewing the show likewise I review any other musical with absolutely zero knowledge of the material. Be warned I will be spoiling what happens in the show, but, trust me, when you get to the end of my review, I can assure you that NONE of that will impact your enjoyment.
As soon as I realized (quite recently) the full title of the show was “Summer: The Donna Summer Musical”, and not, as I somehow remembered, “The Donna Summer Musical”, I knew what I was going to be expecting. This is not a show; this is a concert with “plot” sprinkled over it. The show even starts like a concert, with the hanging lights going up and Donna kicking it off with “The Queen is Back” among flashy dancers. She even continues to rile up the crowd after the first number.
I say “plot” because nothing really happens in the show. Sure, you can say that it tells the life story of Donna Summer, but it’s strangely not told in a linear fashion. There are three Donnas that represent points in her life – let’s call them Small Donna, Medium Donna, and Donna ala Fun Home. They jump back and forth between time to retell important points in their life. Small Donna covers her childhood and teen years, Medium Donna covers her rise to fame, and Donna just kind of flitters around the entire timeline. Sometimes, the Donnas would just congregate together for no particular reason (well, other than to perform a rousing group number). Small Donna even plays her daughter, Mimi, so it gets even more confusing.
The whole show is made up of heavy exposition and catchy songs alternating, from the very first second. The narration is always towards the audience and never to one another. I don’t mind narration in musicals when done creatively well (Hamilton, Great Comet), but this is just plain, speaking narration. Sometimes, she even pulls up a chair and just speaks to the audience about something that happened offstage. You know, like… a concert.
There’s no emotional stakes nor consequences for anyone’s actions throughout. We are dropped into parts of Donna’s life quickly, then taken back out again to move to another time. Therefore, serious scenes such as her husband beating her or her witnessing to an old lady’s murder feels irrelevant and awkward. More things are randomly dropped carelessly throughout such as her support for gay rights (that earned a cheer from the audience) and feminism. What does this have anything to do with the story? Is there even one at this point?
The jokes and humor feel off as only some of them earn a chuckle from the crowd. They insert references the older audiences will definitely recognize so to earn a resounding “oooh, I DO remember that!”.
To further demonstrate the story’s flimsiness, I guarantee you could most probably only name two characters from the whole ensemble. There’s Donna, Small Donna, Medium Donna, Bruce, old manager who dies, female manager, sassy best friend, two German record producers, Donna’s kids, Donna’s parents, Donna’s sisters, abusive first husband, and random housekeeping lady.
The supporting characters are treated awkwardly too. The old manager is never shown to be a sympathetic character or particularly nice to Donna (pushy, actually), but when he dies, Donna breaks down in this huge scene. The character is never set up to be someone I would care about, so his death feels meaningless to me. What are we, as an audience, supposed to feel? I am just left with confusion watching Donna cry in his funeral.
On the other end, Donna’s parents, who are featured quite prominently and portrayed as loving towards Donna, get a quick rush of “my parents just died” near the end of the show. The scene is then proceeded with Donna and her kids singing and dancing in a hospital. It is one of my favorite scenes just because of how absurd it is.
One HUGE pet peeve of mine of the show is how the names of locations would appear in projections in the front of the stage. Whenever locations would change, the name would just appear to blatantly tell the audience where they are – even though a smart set design could do that just fine. It’s very reminiscent on how Hollywood actions movies do this as well along with an electronic ‘typing sound’. I found it very distracting and unnecessary, ESPECIALLY if the characters have ALREADY STATED where they are. “… my parents are still back in Boston” – proceed to slide through the next scene with “BOSTON, USA” projected in huge, block letters.
After all of this, do I hate the show? Surprisingly no! I can’t deny that I had a great and fun time seeing it. It was a good introduction for me to Donna’s music, and I found myself tapping my foot and swinging my hips at some of the songs. “Hot Stuff” is an absolute blast with two large disco balls looming over the audience as dancers make their way onstage from the aisles. My feelings are evidently supported when some of the audience members even begin standing up from their seats and started dancing with the music. It was fantastic to watch old, white people dance like their having the time of their lives in an actual, proper theater. A disco arena with a DJ is even available as you make your way outside. Those musical numbers, while completely irrelevant to the “plot”, are choreographed, sung, and lit so excellently you can’t help but be drawn to them.
That being said, I think this show should be turned into an immersive extravaganza instead of a Broadway musical. Transform a space to a disco club and perform the show there, allowing people to interact and dance with the characters, just like K-Pop did in Ars Nova. The show is absolutely PERFECT for it.
In conclusion:
Go see the show if: you are a huge Donna Summer fan, want to turn off your brain and have a great time with your friends, see the fantastic and slick choreography of Sergio Trujillo, experience another of Howell Binkley’s extraordinary lighting design, see LaChanze, DeBose, and Lever sing their vocal chords off as the Donnas
Do not see the show if: you are expecting something creative and original
