#1
Posted: 8/1/21 at 12:23pm
I caught the reading for Michael R. Jacksons new musical last night at NY Stage and Film, and while I wont review it as it was the first time the piece has had an audience, I will say that if theres a way to make it to Poughkeepsie to catch todays second performance, I hugely recommend it. Hilarious, acerbic, ridiculous, and reaching. Told in three acts (intermission between 2 & 3), its a wild ride that starts as a soap opera send up and turns into something much deeper and more thoughtful. Anchored by an incredibly well-developed performance by Latoya Edwards in the lead, the whole cast is fantastic. But its consummate pro Natasha Yvette Williams who almost runs away with the show and earned a mid-show standing O in act 3. Maybe we were all just drunk on the joys of seeing new material. Maybe we had gone too long without seeing a musical. But I suspect that instead, in fact, it was the only credible response to a tour-de-force performance of a thrilling song. I so deeply hope that this musical has legs and comes to NY in a full production. Its sprawling and messy and utterly, deeply vital. Im so thrilled I was able to go.
