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| Lisa Howard, Alison Luff, Paul Alexander Nolan and Eric Petersen. Photo:Matthew Murphy |
Escape to
Margaritaville
Music and
Lyrics By Jimmy Buffett
Book By
Greg Garcia and Mike O’Malley
Directed
By Christopher Ashley
Choreography
By Kelly Devine
By Lauren
Yarger
If you
are a fan of Jimmy Buffet and find his songs entertaining, you'll enjoy the
Broadway premiere of Escape to Margaritaville. If you aren't
familiar with his songs and don't enjoy a few of the margaritas available at
the theater bar before the curtain goes up, you probably will be thinking of
ways to escape FROM Margaritaville.
The book by Greg Garcia and Mike O’Malley is a throwback to the early days of the jukebox musical, where a very weak plot is used to string together a bunch of songs. Here, lyrics from Buffet songs like "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere," "Son of a Son of a Sailor," "Cheeseburger in Paradise," "Why Don't We Get Drunk?" and the title tune, among others, are brought front and center in a ridiculous plot.
A miscast Paul Alexander Nolan is Tully, a womanizing bar singer taking advantage of a string of women visiting Margaritaville, a resort somewhere in the Caribbean. The place is run by native Marley (Rema Webb) and frequented by an eye-patch-wearing, drunk pilot named J.D. (Don Sparks), who reportedly buried treasure somewhere on the island and who has an obsession with people moving his salt shaker (thus giving some meaning to the lyric "looking for my lost shaker of salt in "Margaritaville" -- if you actually want to go so far as to say there is meaning in anything in this musical).
Tully changes his tune, however, when he meets scientist Rachel (Alison Luff), visiting the island to collect soil to power her potato-powered invention which apparently will provide clean energy and save the planet. Yes, you read that correctly. Suddenly Tully is ready to commit, but Rachel's mind is focused on her work.
She is accompanied by Tammy (Lisa Howard), who wants to sow some wild oats before tying the knot with Chadd (Ian Michael Stuart). Chad has taken a few minutes to get up off the couch where he spends most of his time watching hockey matches to make a phone call and change the size of Tammy's wedding dress to a smaller fit to encourage his fiancée to lose some weight. He also puts her on a diet of carrot juice and seeds.
In this #metoo culture, we are expected to be OK with a woman going along with this and defending the guy because he deserves a chance (while Chadd is no super-fit model himself. Just saying...) Speaking of chances, Tammy confides, Chadd may be her only one at marriage, so she feels like she has to put up with a lot because, you know a girl has to settle rather than end up alone. . . but wait, she might just have a better chance with Tully's friend, Brick (Eric Peterson), who we are supposed to feel good about because he doesn't seem to mind that Tammy is a bit chubby and likes her jokes, which aren't funny. Actually, jokes not delivered by Tammy -- some putting down women -- just aren't funny at all and we get a sense that the writers are trying to stick Tammy with the blame for the lame attempts at humor.
Good advice for the soon-to-be bride is not forthcoming from best friend Rachel, however, who before the show is over, comes to find that being uptight and focusing on her career isn't the way to go -- that happiness comes from loosening up, having sex and eventually marrying.
OK, I don't drink, but will someone please pass me a margarita? Or a few?
Beyond giving my sense of morals a nervous breakdown (lying is good, cheating is good, false advertising is OK, getting drunk is great, anonymous sex is desirable -- remember lyrics like "Why Don't We Just Get Drunk and Screw" are part of the party atmosphere here-- ), the show gave me motion sickness as well. Every mode of travel seems to be depicted. Just because they can. Are the women flying from Ohio? Let's have a scene on a plane. Taking a boat? Hopping in a car? How about two more planes -- one with first class seating just to be different? All of them are in there. Walt Spangler is the overworked set designer who also creates an island motif that extends like volcano lava into the theater's house.
Because some random lyrics don't make a complete story -- or a full Broadway musical -- the writers and creatives are forced to pull some tricks out of a bag. Brick believes a story that a group of people once were buried underneath the lava ash from the island's last volcanic eruption. They must give the ensemble (and Choreographer Kelly Devine) something to do, it seems, so the group becomes ghosts of the lost souls. Later, when the story is proven to be myth, the dialogue could go something like this:
"We already have all of these dancers on stage, so we are now going to have them do a big show-stopping number with costumes that change into something more suited for 42nd Street than this musical because we don't want to waste the talents of Costume Designer Paul Tazewell). We're just going to do this and hope you don't notice that we have lost all hope of presenting a cohesive musical."
The same comments about wasting talent could be said of Director Christopher Ashley (Come From Away), who is unable to pull the insipid fragments together, and Flying by Foy, used to create people swimming above the action at one point, then to fly a hungry Tammy over to a plate piled with cheeseburgers ("Cheeseburger in Paradise"). I found the only the only positive note I had scribbled during the show came at this point in the production: "At least we don't have dancing cheeseburgers now." I fully expected a chorus line of gold-lame-clad, high-kicking burgers to appear.
J.D. is looking for his lost shaker of salt and non Jimmy Buffet fans are looking for another drink during the very long-feeling two-hour-15 minute production at the Marquis Theatre, 210 West 46th St., NYC. Performances times vary. escapetomargaritavillemusical.com
Additional cast:
Andre Ward, Matt Allen, Tessa Alves, Sara Andreas, Tiffany Adeline Cole, Marjorie Failoni, Samantha Farrow, Steven Good, Angela Grovey, Albert Guerzon, Keely Hutton, Justin Keats, Mike Millan, Justin Mortelliti, Ryann Redmond, Jennifer Rias, Julius Anthony Rubio, Nick Sanchez, Ian Michael Stuart, and Brett Thiele.
Additional credits:
Howell Binkley (Lighting Designer), Brian Ronan (Sound Designer), Leah J. Loukas (Wigs, Hair, and Makeup Design), Michael Utley (Orchestrations), Christopher Jahnke (Music Supervisor),
The Original Broadway Cast Recording of the new musical Escape to Margaritaville, featuring both original songs along with many of Buffett’s classics, is now available both digitally and on CD.
FAMILY-FRIENDLY FACTORS:
-- Theater warns the production is suitable for ages 10 and up
-- God's name taken in vain
-- Sexual dialogue
-- A lucky native charm
The book by Greg Garcia and Mike O’Malley is a throwback to the early days of the jukebox musical, where a very weak plot is used to string together a bunch of songs. Here, lyrics from Buffet songs like "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere," "Son of a Son of a Sailor," "Cheeseburger in Paradise," "Why Don't We Get Drunk?" and the title tune, among others, are brought front and center in a ridiculous plot.
A miscast Paul Alexander Nolan is Tully, a womanizing bar singer taking advantage of a string of women visiting Margaritaville, a resort somewhere in the Caribbean. The place is run by native Marley (Rema Webb) and frequented by an eye-patch-wearing, drunk pilot named J.D. (Don Sparks), who reportedly buried treasure somewhere on the island and who has an obsession with people moving his salt shaker (thus giving some meaning to the lyric "looking for my lost shaker of salt in "Margaritaville" -- if you actually want to go so far as to say there is meaning in anything in this musical).
Tully changes his tune, however, when he meets scientist Rachel (Alison Luff), visiting the island to collect soil to power her potato-powered invention which apparently will provide clean energy and save the planet. Yes, you read that correctly. Suddenly Tully is ready to commit, but Rachel's mind is focused on her work.
She is accompanied by Tammy (Lisa Howard), who wants to sow some wild oats before tying the knot with Chadd (Ian Michael Stuart). Chad has taken a few minutes to get up off the couch where he spends most of his time watching hockey matches to make a phone call and change the size of Tammy's wedding dress to a smaller fit to encourage his fiancée to lose some weight. He also puts her on a diet of carrot juice and seeds.
In this #metoo culture, we are expected to be OK with a woman going along with this and defending the guy because he deserves a chance (while Chadd is no super-fit model himself. Just saying...) Speaking of chances, Tammy confides, Chadd may be her only one at marriage, so she feels like she has to put up with a lot because, you know a girl has to settle rather than end up alone. . . but wait, she might just have a better chance with Tully's friend, Brick (Eric Peterson), who we are supposed to feel good about because he doesn't seem to mind that Tammy is a bit chubby and likes her jokes, which aren't funny. Actually, jokes not delivered by Tammy -- some putting down women -- just aren't funny at all and we get a sense that the writers are trying to stick Tammy with the blame for the lame attempts at humor.
Good advice for the soon-to-be bride is not forthcoming from best friend Rachel, however, who before the show is over, comes to find that being uptight and focusing on her career isn't the way to go -- that happiness comes from loosening up, having sex and eventually marrying.
OK, I don't drink, but will someone please pass me a margarita? Or a few?
Beyond giving my sense of morals a nervous breakdown (lying is good, cheating is good, false advertising is OK, getting drunk is great, anonymous sex is desirable -- remember lyrics like "Why Don't We Just Get Drunk and Screw" are part of the party atmosphere here-- ), the show gave me motion sickness as well. Every mode of travel seems to be depicted. Just because they can. Are the women flying from Ohio? Let's have a scene on a plane. Taking a boat? Hopping in a car? How about two more planes -- one with first class seating just to be different? All of them are in there. Walt Spangler is the overworked set designer who also creates an island motif that extends like volcano lava into the theater's house.
Because some random lyrics don't make a complete story -- or a full Broadway musical -- the writers and creatives are forced to pull some tricks out of a bag. Brick believes a story that a group of people once were buried underneath the lava ash from the island's last volcanic eruption. They must give the ensemble (and Choreographer Kelly Devine) something to do, it seems, so the group becomes ghosts of the lost souls. Later, when the story is proven to be myth, the dialogue could go something like this:
"We already have all of these dancers on stage, so we are now going to have them do a big show-stopping number with costumes that change into something more suited for 42nd Street than this musical because we don't want to waste the talents of Costume Designer Paul Tazewell). We're just going to do this and hope you don't notice that we have lost all hope of presenting a cohesive musical."
The same comments about wasting talent could be said of Director Christopher Ashley (Come From Away), who is unable to pull the insipid fragments together, and Flying by Foy, used to create people swimming above the action at one point, then to fly a hungry Tammy over to a plate piled with cheeseburgers ("Cheeseburger in Paradise"). I found the only the only positive note I had scribbled during the show came at this point in the production: "At least we don't have dancing cheeseburgers now." I fully expected a chorus line of gold-lame-clad, high-kicking burgers to appear.
J.D. is looking for his lost shaker of salt and non Jimmy Buffet fans are looking for another drink during the very long-feeling two-hour-15 minute production at the Marquis Theatre, 210 West 46th St., NYC. Performances times vary. escapetomargaritavillemusical.com
Additional cast:
Andre Ward, Matt Allen, Tessa Alves, Sara Andreas, Tiffany Adeline Cole, Marjorie Failoni, Samantha Farrow, Steven Good, Angela Grovey, Albert Guerzon, Keely Hutton, Justin Keats, Mike Millan, Justin Mortelliti, Ryann Redmond, Jennifer Rias, Julius Anthony Rubio, Nick Sanchez, Ian Michael Stuart, and Brett Thiele.
Additional credits:
Howell Binkley (Lighting Designer), Brian Ronan (Sound Designer), Leah J. Loukas (Wigs, Hair, and Makeup Design), Michael Utley (Orchestrations), Christopher Jahnke (Music Supervisor),
The Original Broadway Cast Recording of the new musical Escape to Margaritaville, featuring both original songs along with many of Buffett’s classics, is now available both digitally and on CD.
FAMILY-FRIENDLY FACTORS:
-- Theater warns the production is suitable for ages 10 and up
-- God's name taken in vain
-- Sexual dialogue
-- A lucky native charm
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