Ordinary Days at La Comédie Nation, Paris. Picture: Christine Nait Sidnas
Ordinary Days at La Comédie Nation, Paris.
Off-Broadway is really happening in Paris now. In June Next Thing You Know is going to be presented by American Musical Theatre Live! Paris at the Highlander Pub Bar. And La Comédie Nation, which already gave us an original chamber piece musical Un Noël à New York earlier this season, is treating us this time to Ordinary Days, an honest and funny musical about making real connections in the city that never sleeps.
The plot follows four New Yorkers as they reach for fulfillment, happiness, love and belonging in a post-9/11 era. More than just a song cycle, it has a narrative told through a series of intricately associated songs, some of them echoing Broadway classics. ‘Gotta Get Out’, sung by the character Claire in a cab on the verge of a nervous breakdown, is reminiscent of ‘Tonight At Eight’ from the musical She Loves Me.
Deb forgets her doctoral dissertation notes in the subway and then meets Warren who returns them to her, while Jason is trying to work out his relationship to Claire as he moves in with her. We see all of the characters lose what is most important for them, but in the process grow up and even end up enjoying the view.
Composer Adam Gwon’s work is well-served here by a very strong cast. Aside from the amazing Lauren Berkmen as Deb, soon to be seen in Next Thing You Know, Prisca Demarez is equally fine as Claire, especially during ‘I’ll Be Here’, where she opens up about why she has trouble taking the next step with her boyfriend Jason (portrayed by Emmanuel Suarez, recently seen in the Bernstein Songbook).
Lisandro Nesis, who manages the Broadway Soirées at the Carré Parisien, is the surprise of the evening as Warren. The part seems to have been written just for him.
Colton Pometta has done an excellent job directing this moving piece at La Comédie Nation. Next season the venue is going to host the Broadway Soirées every second Thursday of the month.
Patrick Honoré
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