Kate Baldwin and Conor Ryan in John & Jen at The Clurman Theatre, New York. Picture: Carol Rosegg
John & Jen continues at The Clurman Theatre, New York, until 4 April.
Star rating: 3 stars ★ ★ ★
Sibling co-dependency gets the spotlight if not much examination in John & Jen, an Off-Broadway musical from 1995 now receiving an appreciative revival, courtesy of the Keen Company, one of the many smaller not-for-profit producing groups that dot the Off-Broadway scene.
The piece is an early work from Andrew Lippa. His career as a composer/lyricist has taken him to Broadway – most prominently, with Big Fish and The Addams Family – as well as the concert hall with his theatrical oratorio I Am Harvey Milk which had its New York premiere last October.
Lippa wrote the music for John & Jen, Tom Greenwald the lyrics, and both of them collaborated on the book. It’s a show for two performers, detailing the tight relationship between Jen and her kid brother, John, played out against the background of America in the last half of the last century. The brother dies in the Vietnam War at the end of Act I, Jen is awash in guilt, and in the second half, we see how their relationship colours Jen’s life as a single mother raising her son, also named John. Her concern nearly smothers her son, until a final-curtain epiphany.
It’s a complex relationship told in simple terms. Jen’s protective attitude – perhaps overly protective – towards her brother is established early on, as the six-year-old Jen sings a ‘Welcome to the World’ to the newborn boy, telling him: “I’ll make sure you’re happy/As safe as you can be.”
The big ogre is their father, who apparently is prone to beating up on his kids, and for whom, Jen carries a lifelong animosity. It’s a plot thread that looms over the proceedings, but is never really explored. Similarly, the intense closeness of Jen and John (and I guess I should point out it’s non-sexual) is never really examined in any compelling fashion, although it’s demonstrated repeatedly through a range of events, from a youthful Christmas Eve to Jen’s departure for college and John’s decision to go to war.
This simplicity may well be the creators’ intention. In a note attached to the script, the director of the original production Gabriel Barre points out: “This is a play about a sister and a brother, a mother and a son, about Jen’s journey. It is not about abuse, the Vietnam War… or single parenting. In telling this story, simpler is better.”
That simplicity, however, kept me from ever getting deeply involved in what was going on between John and Jen. Yeah, they’re really close, and the direction of Jonathan Silverstein, Keen’s artistic director, moves the story ahead fluidly, but so what? All the music, and there’s plenty of it, almost begins to feel ponderous when layered onto the slim bones of a story we’re pretty much asked to take on face value.
Nevertheless, what gives the piece its value for me is Lippa’s music. The show boasts a richly melodic, almost non-stop score, setting off nicely Greenwald’s plot-forwarding if sometimes predictable lyrics, and quite ear-filling on its own. There are some terrific set pieces, such as a musical depiction of a school baseball game in which John on the field is constantly embarrassed by his mother’s raucous support from the stands.
The score also provides a showcase for two exceedingly talented performers, Kate Baldwin and Conor Ryan. Baldwin, who gained attention and a Tony nomination in the 2009 revival of Finian’s Rainbow and later appeared in Lippa’s Big Fish, brings grace and warmth to Jen. Her accomplished singing easily negotiates the soaring lines and contrapuntal duets that Lippa has provided. Ryan makes an appealing stage partner, with a vibrant singing voice and likeable presence, and like Baldwin, moves convincingly through the various ages of his characters, aided only by costume change.
There’s also exceptional work to be noted by the show’s two musicians, who, perched barely visible upstage on the set, give the singers grand support. They are Lily Ling on piano and Melanie Mason on cello.
All in all, a little more depth in storytelling might well have helped this brother-and-sister act live up to the promising dimensions of its music.
Ron Cohen
www.newyorkcitytheatre.com/theaters/clurman-theater/john-jen.php
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