Aside from nude Marc Kudisch... THE HIGHEST YELLOW is an extremely challenging piece. The music is VERY "rangy" and melodically, harmonically and rhythmically complex (as is all LaChiusa). I sat mesmorized by every note through the entire score. Jonathan Tunick's orchestrations are beautiful (10 piece). I love LaChiusa however, and I traveled from Michigan to DC just to see the show, so I may be biased in my review.
The story itself is interesting and strange, and I have to disagree with reviews that I have read comparing it to SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE. I think LaChiusa and Strand have created something completely new and imaginative. This show is about madness, disease, and passion... not connection and obsession. The central focus of THY isn't even van Gogh, it's Dr. Rey. That's my first bone to pick with what I've read in a couple reviews.
The music itself is wonderfully suited to the show. At times chaotic and eclectic while at other times soaringly beautiful and deep. LaChiusa thrusts you into the show immediately with a piercing chord accented with a sharp bell tone as a beautiful rhythmic pattern plays underneath. As always with LaChiusa, you never expect what comes next, and he is always trying something new. However, this score is full of LaChiusa "trademarks" as I call them... beautiful chord 'blurs', dissonant harmonizations, complex rhythms (i.e. quintuples, septuples), and driving rhythmic passages. I think he has written some of his most "melodic" music for this show, however, that doesn't mean that it still isn't complex, and that you will definitly hear more in the music each time you listen to it. Although, I felt that MARIE CHRISTINE and THE WILD PARTY were incredibly melodic... I was humming tunes from TWP weeks after I saw it... I don't know why others don't hear what I do.
The performances are also wonderful. I felt that the two ensemble males were a little young, or at least seem young to be playing the roles they were playing. However, Donna Migliaccio commands the stage in her second act opener, playing a Madame of a brothel. This is an incredibly interesting song, characterizing love as a disease in search of a cure. Donna belts it out with bravado. Jason Danieley creates a moving performance with a wonderful journey from innocent to learned jealously and finally to madness himself (posing the question, is madness contagious in some form). His voice is strong and beautiful, and he has a firm grasp of his difficult songs. Judy Kuhn has the voice of an angel. It sounds wonderful singing LaChiusa's beautiful music that he has written for her character. I felt that she has a better command of her role than the reviews gave her credit for. This is not a whore with a heart of gold kind of character that I feel others wanted her to be. She is selfish, conniving, and willing to use people to get what she wants. This is wonderfully played subtextually by Ms. Kuhn. She sings some of the most entrancing lyrics too, "You need the dark to make the light lighter/You need the scream to make the quiet heard/The use of shadows makes the picture brighter/A thousand sounds without a single word." Marc Kudicsh, in his second LaChiusa show, is also perfect for this role. His van Gogh is wonderfully nuanced without being over-the-top during the "mad" scene(s). His aria "The Highest Yellow" is absolutely breathtaking. Using the full range of his voice with a strong command of falsetto singing that not a lot of men get to use, or can use well. Such a difficult song that he makes seem effortless.
My only wish is that the end of the show had been musicalized. There is a beautiful underscore, however, the end is Vincent reading a letter. I guess I was just hoping for one more gorgeous song and was disappointed I didn't get one. If you would like to hear a preview of a couple of songs, Signature theatre did a preview at the Kennedy Center of their season. There are a couple other shows singing as well, however there are 4 songs from THE HIGHEST YELLOW. I'll post the link below. Just type in The Highest Yellow in the search and ONE RED FLOWER with appear... click the link, and THY is about 13 minutes into the clip. Hope you enjoy!
If you are in the DC area and really want to see something special, different, and daring... go see this show. Beautiful score, intriguing story, wonderful UNMIC-ED broadway performers, and an evening of theatre you'll never forget.
The Highest Yellow Preview
From the evil she done Lord
Set her free, Set her free, Set me free
Don't let my sorrow
Make evil of me
