Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Full-body experience
‘Bodyguard’ on Kravis Center stage is one you’ll feel in your bones.
If you happen to have a weak ticker or tend to startle easily, be sure you’re sitting down instead of standing in the aisles shooting the breeze when “The Bodyguard” begins.
The 2012 London stage musical version of the massive Whitney Houston-Kevin Costner 1992 movie hit begins with a sudden blackout and thunderous sound. No gentle lowering of the house lights for this show, which is about as subtle as the rat-a-tat-tat of a jackhammer piercing the tranquility of a spring day.
Playing at the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach through Sunday, the musical doesn’t just entertain theatergoers with its story of a demanding diva who falls hard for her bodyguard. It thrills them. They love this show. They clap and cheer, hoot and holler, as if they had taken a time machine back to one of the inimitable Houston’s concerts.
Based on Lawrence Kasdan’s screenplay, the musical’s book is by “Birdman” Oscar winner Alexander Dinelaris, who also wrote the script to the Gloria and Emilio Estefan bio musical “On Your Feet!” which launched the Arsht Center’s current touring Broadway season. The writer, once a student at Barry University, has given the show a somewhat simpler storyline without excising its cheesiness or resolving its emotional improbabilities.
If you helped make “The Bodyguard” a boxoffice smash, watched it on cable or contributed to making its soundtrack album a best seller, you already know that the story revolves around superstar singer Rachel Marron (Deborah Cox), an Oscar nominee who has become the object of a dangerously obsessed stalker’s attentions.
Her current team — manager Bill Devaney (Charles Gray), brash publicist Sy Spector (Jonathan Hadley) and beefy bodyguard Tony Scibelli (Alex Corrado) — has largely shielded her from the increasingly threatening letters sent by her stalker (Jorge Paniagua). But as he gets closer, as his threats turn deadly, Devaney turns to former Secret Service agent Frank Farmer (Judson Mills) to dial up Rachel’s protection.
Initially, the sometimes-fiery diva has a loathing-at-first-sight reaction to the cool, chiseled muscleman who tries to restrict her movements to keep her safe. But Rachel’s sister, Nikki (Jasmin Richardson), a talented singer living in her superstar sibling’s shadow, finds Frank to be mighty fine and hopes to get something going with him. But after Frank saves her from the stalker during a club appearance, Rachel turns friendly and flirty, and the two wind up in bed. Nikki, made jealous yet again, is
not happy. But enough about the story. People come to “The Bodyguard” wanting to hear those Houston hits sung live, and on that score, the show delivers.
Cox, a Grammy-nominated pop/R&B singeractor whose home base is in Parkland, is a stunner who brings star quality to her singing, dancing and acting. Her voice isn’t as bombastic or melisma-heavy as Houston’s, but she can belt with the best of ’em.
She delivers the thrills with “Greatest Love of All,” “How Will I Know,” “I Wanna Dance With Somebody,” “So Emotional,” “Run to You,” “I Have Nothing,” “I’m Every Woman,” “One Moment in Time” and the wait-for-it closer, Houston’s passionate version of Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You.” When Cox sings, the crowd goes wild. For real.
Richardson, whose impressively soulful voice is a bit earthier than Cox’s, turns Nikki’s small-club solo on “Saving All My Love for You” into one of the show’s vocal highlights. She duets movingly with Cox on “Run to You,” sings the lost-love song “All at Once,” and joins her sis and Rachel’s 10-year-old son, Fletcher (Kevelin B. Jones III, who shares the role with Sebastian Maynard-Palmer) on a sweet version of “Jesus Loves Me,” just before the stalker comes calling, knife at the ready.
Mills gets a rare lighter moment when Frank murders “I Will Always Love You” at a karaoke bar. Mostly, he comes across as a steady-as-a-rock guy who inspires loathing, lust and envy, as well as hero worship from Rachel’s son.
Paniagua’s stalker, Frank’s match in the buff body department, gets creepy closeups in some of the video that’s a vital part of the show’s approach. But mostly, he appears suddenly in a spotlight.
The Rachel-performing sequences are concert-worthy, with smoke cannons, flashing lights, hot backup dancers and that kind of thudding bass you feel in your bones.
“The Bodyguard” is running through Sunday at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, 701 Okeechobee Blvd., in West Palm Beach. Showtimes are 8 p.m. today, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, and 2 p.m. Sunday (Cox does not perform the Saturday matinee). Tickets cost $28-$76. To order, call 561-832-7569 or go to Kravis.org.