Gutsy new fairytale of NEW YORK
BKLYN (stream.theatre)
Verdict: Rapturous urban fairy tale ★★★★✩ Testament (Via Brooklyn Theatre Company; viabrooklyn.org) Verdict: Gruelling Bible stories retold ★★★✩✩ The Christopher Boy’s Communion (BBC Sounds) Verdict: Mamet tale of the unexpected ★★★✩✩
THIS past year, I’ve found myself hankering for good old-fashioned stories. Tales of redemption, survival and transformation — happy or sad — have kept me going. And this week has seen a flurry of just such yarns.
The gutsy New York musical BKLYN is an urban fairy tale from 2004 about a young woman who goes to Brooklyn in search of the dad she never knew — a poet and guitar man who fell for her mum in Paris. Like all good fairy tales, the show enjoys a fairly loose relationship with partypooping plausibility. And our heroine, also Brooklyn, winds up in a bizarre diva showdown in Madison Square Garden.
But this warm and whimsical yarn is really a pretext for music and lyrics by Mark Schoenfeld and Barri McPherson that damn near blew my headphones off: a mix of acoustic pop, blues, soul and funk, plus a whole lot of gospel.
We’re fired up from the start with company number The Heart Behind These Hands, in a show filmed in a bare brick loft in London’s Bermondsey — but littered with screwed up paper to look like a New York sidewalk.
Perhaps the real fairy tale here, though, is Schoenfeld’s own story. He was once a homeless musician; before being rescued by chance from the streets by McPherson. In line with that, a young cast of five wear just woolly hats and baseball caps, trench coats and denim — with gold lamé costumes for fantasy cut-aways.
The singing supplies plenty of magic, too. Emma Kingston as Brooklyn is a Streisand- style chanteuse blasting off with an ‘ anything is possible anthem’ Once Upon A Time.
But Marisha Wallace, as her diva nemesis, has a soul- searching belter of her own — Raven — performed with the gusto of The Weather Girls ( the ones who warned us It’s Raining Men).
Newtion Matthews is inspirational, too, as the street- singer, fairy godfather narrator who looks like Malcolm X and sounds like Luther Vandross. It’s beautifully and simply shot, and looks ovenready for a stage show. Ambitious producers should jump on it. n TESTAMENT is another Brooklynset production, with writer Tristan Bernays updating three Bible stories into modern America.
First up is the Old Testament tale of Abraham, ordered by God to sacrifice his son Isaac. Isaac (Biko Eisen-Martin) is a married man, estranged from a pastor father who tried to kill him. The second story sees Lot’s daughters ( Jessica Giannone and Cori Hundt) re-imagined as fugitives not from Sodom, but what sounds like riot-torn New Orleans. They take revenge on their upright father as he turns abusive.
And finally we meet the thief (JéPaul Mitchell) crucified with Jesus — now a cop killer on death row. It’s a slightly awkward, confessional set-up, with the action taking place beneath a crucifix in a church, and unaccompanied spirituals sung between tales.
But the characters are vividly rendered, with an intensity that’s more anguished than evangelical. n THERE’S also a Biblical theme to radio play THE CHRISTOPHER BOY’S COMMUNION by playwright David Mamet. Directed by Martin Jarvis, and available on BBC Sounds, it’s about a wealthy Manhattan Catholic couple shocked when their son is accused of a heinous crime.
As ever with Mamet, it’s a tightly wrought puzzle of a plot in which the mother (Rebecca Pidgeon) seeks to get her son off the hook, whatever the cost.
PS: If you have been following the online craze for immersive murder mysteries, you’ll be pleased to know that the third part of Plymouth Point — The Kindling Hour — is now available ( ★★★★✩ , thekindlinghour.com).
We pick up the trail on the websites of an exclusive horse racing club, decode hidden messages, and unlock clues in videos. Whoever put this together is a genius!