"Jumpstarting the New Season"
The 2017-2018 theatre season is now officially over, the awards nominations are in, and we herewith begin the new season of 2018-2019. During the just ended season, I reviewed 216 shows on this site, The Broadway Blog, and Theater Pizzazz. The countdown for the new season begins below with an original musical called Unexpected Joy.
There are, indeed, some unexpected joys in Unexpected Joy, the intimate new musical
by Bill Russell (book, lyrics) and Janet Hood (music) at the York Theatre, Off
Broadway’s distinguished seedbed of promising new musicals. Not enough, though, to predict as
rosy a future for it as two other recent York creations have experienced: Cagney and Desperate Measures
(reopening soon at New World Stages).  |
| Luba Mason. Photo: Carol Rosegg. |
If Unexpected Joy,
brightly staged by Amy Anders Corcoran, were
able to embody its narrative core and catchy songs within an imaginative
framework unburdened by a superficial script, it might have a chance. But as it
is now, it has a split personality: part concert, part dysfunctional
family drama, and part anti-homophobic polemic. Seeing it in a New York venue—where
it’s clearly preaching to the choir—makes its social agenda much less poignant than
were it to be seen in some conservative bastion of the Deep South.
 |
| Luba Mason, Celeste Rose. Photo: Carol Rosegg. |
Tony-nominated Bill Russell (the underappreciated Side Show) says in his program note that
the show’s story about a straight woman falling for a lesbian takes
its inspiration from someone he knew in real life. In the show, that person is
Joy (the terrific Luba Mason), a blonde, middle-aged singing star and social activist living
on Cape Cod and preparing a local concert memorializing her late, beloved
husband, a singer-songwriter named Jump. Their show biz act was called Jump and
Joy. Da da boom.
 |
| Luba Mason, Celeste Rose. Photo: Carol Rosegg. |
The perhaps too youthful-looking Joy fits her shapely figure into boots and
skintight jeans; those jeans may not be bell-bottomed but her hippy-influenced blouses and
fringed leather vests are distinctly redolent of the late 60s and 70s. She and much of her
music convey a mix of Carole King, Bonnie Raitt, Helen Reddy, Joni Mitchell, and similar pop stars of that
era, beginning when she opens the show with a prologue number, the rocking “How
Do We Go On?” which nicely captures that bygone period vibe.
The song is the opening for her concert, which bookends the
show. When it’s finished, the action flashes back a bit to before the concert, when
Joy’s at home being visited by her 18-year-old granddaughter, Tamara (Celeste
Rose). The girl’s mother is Joy’s bastard daughter, Rachel (Courtney Balan), a
name Joy keeps absentmindedly changing to Rainbow. Mason looks too young to be an 18-year-old's grandma but let's just leave it at that.
 |
| Courtney Balan. Photo: Carol Rosegg. |
Rachel, with her singing preacher husband, David, has a
successful career as a Southern televangelist on “The Good News Hour.” Joy, for
her part, reveals that she herself is the daughter of Jews but that their
Jewishness “never took.”
 |
| Celeste Rose, Courtney Balan, Luba Mason. Photo: Carol Rosegg. |
Tamara is an aspiring rock singer-songwriter, whose
amusingly shocking lyrics in a raunchy song she sings for Joy reveal her to be
far from the innocent angel her controlling mother believes her to be. She
emulates her glamorous grandmother’s freewheeling lifestyle (she calls her
Glamma) and would prefer to live with her than with her Bible-thumping mother.
The latter says “Language!” whenever someone swears, and, like her husband, is
unapologetically homophobic and a believer in conversion therapy.
 |
| Celeste Rose. Photo: Carol Rosegg. |
Rachel’s anti-gay convictions become central to the domestic
drama at the libretto’s core, namely, Joy’s intention to marry the outspoken, black,
proudly lesbian singer, Lou (Allyson Kaye Daniel), with whom she’s fallen in
love. Joy, however, rejecting “labels,” insists she herself isn’t gay.
 |
| Celeste Rose, Luba Mason, Courtney Balan. |
Thus the soapy setup in which each daughter clashes with her
mother and we wonder: how long can Rachel be kept from discovering her sister’s
Bible-defying relationship, how will she react to it? Worse, what will be her response to the potentially family-shattering revelation that,
the day after the concert, Joy will be marrying Lou? Will she
participate in the concert? What will happen to Tamara? And will Rachel
and Joy reunite? Does, in fact, the future hold the promise of unexpected joy?
 |
| Allyson Kaye Daniel. Photo: Carol Rosegg. |
Of course, in shows like this, very little is unexpected, so
a few strong laughs help carry the essentially sitcom plot and dialogue, stereotypical characters, and feel-good ending.
 |
| Luba Mason, Allyson Kaye Daniel. Photo: Carol Rosegg. |
Many of the songs are actually very entertaining, if derivative, and cover the blues, 70s-style pop, conventional rock, and even Christian rock (“Better Times Comin!”). What’s missing is an integrated
approach to how they fit into the libretto. A few reflect (but don't drive) the situations, like
“Raising them Right,” Rachel’s commentary on the problems of child raising, while
others are stand-alone and do little to further the plot. Such would be the
concert and rehearsal routines, or the title song, performed by Lou and Joy.
 |
| Allyson Kaye Daniel, Courtney Balan, Luba Mason, Celeste Rose. Photo: Carol Rosegg. |
The show closes with a rousing, handclapping, 70s-style
anthem called “Common Ground,” one of Jump and Joy’s hits. As its title shows, it carries the play's unifying message that we're all in this together.
 |
| Celeste Rose, Courtney Balan, Allyson Kaye Daniel, Luba Mason. Photo: Carol Rosegg. |
Jim Morgan’s simple set, with sliding panels occasionally
moved to reveal the four-member orchestra (led by pianist/conductor Beth Falcone)
upstage, serves nicely for both the concert and living room scenes. The
presence of a couple of floral-patterned armchairs at both the concert and
Joy’s home is justified by a piece of forced exposition. Ken Wills’s lighting looks fine and, apart from Joy’s questionable retro look, Matthew Pachtman’s
costumes suit the characters.
 |
| Courtney Balan, Celeste Rose, Luba Mason, Allyson Kaye Daniel. Photo: Carol Rosegg. |
The vocally gifted, charismatic ensemble gives
excellent performances in their paper-thin roles, from Luba Mason’s
been-around-the-block pop star, to Celeste Rose’s convincingly girl-next-door
teen (Rose is old enough to have a BFA), to Allyson Kaye Daniel’s sassily
wise lover, to Courtney Balan’s uptight televangelist.
As long as you don’t expect another Cagney or Desperate Measures,
you’ll likely find some unexpected joys at Unexpected
Joy.
OTHER VIEWPOINTS:
York Theatre
619 Lexington Ave., NYC
Through
