(L–R) Eric William Morris, Adam Cochran and Kate Baldwin in Songbird at 59E59 Theaters, New York. Picture: Jenny Anderson Photography
Songbird continues at 59E59 Theaters, New York, until 29 November.
Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩
Anton Chekhov’s unhappy turn-of-the-20th-Century Russians transform intriguingly into contemporary denizens of Nashville, Tennessee, in the new Off-Broadway musical Songbird. Based on the Russian master’s play The Seagull, Michael Kimmel’s script follows Chekhov’s tangled love affairs in fairly close fashion, while seasoning them with twangy dialogue and a score by singer-songwriter Lauren Pritchard of down-home foot-stompers, ballads and blues. An excellent cast, replete with Broadway talents, deftly handles both the drama and the music.
The story centres on Tammy Trip (Kate Baldwin), a country singing star whose career is on the decline. She has returned for a visit to the family ranch and saloon to see her long-neglected son, Dean (Adam Cochran), an aspiring songwriter himself, and other family and friends. They include Soren (Bob Stillman), Tammy’s ailing brother; Pauline and Samuel (Erin Dilly and Andy Taylor), a married couple and Tammy’s old-time chums who manage the properties; Missy (Kacie Sheik), their daughter who broods over her unrequited love for Dean; Doc (Drew McVety), the easy-going doctor and family friend who’s having an affair with Pauline, and Rip (Don Guillory), a bar hand who has a thing for Missy.
Exponentially complicating things are two interlopers: Beck (Eric William Morris), Tammy’s lover and travelling companion and a highly successful songwriter; and Mia (Ephie Aardema), a neighbour girl and aspiring country singing star, who is the object of Dean’s fevered affections. But it’s Beck and Mia who hook up, leaving tragedy in their wake.
While respecting Chekhov’s story, Kimmel’s scenario, realised smartly under JV Mercanti’s knowing direction, clips along briskly, avoiding the sense of ennui that often colours the staging of Chekhov’s plays. Pritchard’s score further keeps things lively with a variety of tempos and moods, while remaining within the country and western realm.
Baldwin brings Tammy’s inherent star glamour to the proceedings along with the spells of volcanic fury ignited by insecurity and the sense of failure now pervading the character’s life. It’s a vivid, multi-level performance providing a magnetic fulcrum for the emotions that swirl about her. Her girlie side is also revealed in her relations with Dilly’s effervescent Pauline, and their big musical duet recalling their old times together is one of the show’s flashy highlights.
Most of the actors provide the show’s accompaniment, playing guitars and other instruments, all of this supported logically by the script. A quieter affecting moment, however, is the a cappella lullaby-like duet sung by Baldwin and Cochran, as Tammy tends to some bruises acquired by her son in an aborted suicide attempt.
It’s open to question as to how affecting Songbird might be without the foreknowledge of Chekhov’s play to illuminate it. Nevertheless, it stands on its own as an engaging piece of musical theatre.
Ron Cohen
Readers may also be interested in:
First Daughter Suite – The Public Theater, New York – Review
Trip of Love – Stage 42, New York – Review
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