Sam (Eliza Pagelle, left) has a chance encounter with Michael (Jon-Michael Reese).
There’s a lot to like about All the World’s a Stage, the Keen Company’s new musical at Theatre Row, but the most likable item of all might be … the strings. Michael Starobin’s orchestrations comprise piano, cello, violin, banjo, and guitar, infusing Adam Gwon’s songs with warmth, color, and the sort of lush sound that new scores haven’t proffered for years. We’ve gotten so used to artificial-sounding synthesizers, ear-rattling drums, and over-miked accompaniment that Gwon’s and Starobin’s work sounds fresher and newer than anything going on at whatever jukebox musical is playing down the street. And it’s serving a story that bears telling, and is told well.
Ricky (Matt Rodin) tells Sam, “The show must go on!”
Gwon’s previous efforts include Scotland, PA, which had its moments, and Ordinary Days, which didn’t. Neither of those suggested he was capable of All the World’s a Stage. Like Scotland, he sets it in rural Pennsylvania, this time in the 1990s. It’s a friendly but rigid environment, especially for outsiders such as Ricky (Matt Rodin), the just-arrived high school math teacher. He has an instant ally in Dede (Elizabeth Stanley), the warmhearted school secretary, but even she’s a traditionalist—her brother heads a local, conservative church—and that’s going to present Ricky some challenges. It’s 1996, he’s in Middle-of-Nowhere, Pa., and he’s single and gay. Not the best place to be that.
It's especially hard as he sidesteps the football games to concentrate on Sam (Eliza Pagelle), the rebellious, impoverished student whose histrionic nature compels Ricky to coach her in performing a dramatic monologue for a student competition with a possible theatrical scholarship on the other side. Meantime, he pursues a very cautious romance with Michael (Jon-Michael Reese), the bookstore owner who’s out and unapologetic about it—a trait that is, for this setting, admittedly hard to swallow. That’s it for the dramatis personae, though, in a fun touch, all three other actors play the school principal when Ricky is called into his office. He’s in trouble: Sam, it seems, performed an extemporaneous monologue from Angels in America. In the hallway.
Ricky and Michael pursue a very careful courtship.
The Notebook will also figure into it, as will Shakespeare’s sonnets, school library censorship, and the inevitable clashing of new ideas and sensibilities against a narrow culture that can’t help quashing them. All the World’s a Stage seems, at first glance, a snooze of a title, but it contains multitudes of subtext. When are we not performing? What makes us lie to others, and ourselves? How do we stop?
Gwon’s work is, in the main, wonderful, and that extends to book, music, and lyrics. The plot proceeds neatly and intelligently, and as one gets to know these characters, one grows to care about them. Ricky, a people pleaser, sometimes throws aside his own needs and wants in his effort to fit in, and sometimes fabricates, inventing a girlfriend to conform.
Rodin, clean-cut and appealing, is never more so than in “The Show Must Go On,” Ricky’s rah-rah showbiz anthem of a sort that hasn’t been written in many decades. Dede’s basic decency brushes up against her fundamentalist roots, giving Stanley a lot to act—and a strong number, “I Don’t Ask,” where she measures her faith on the one hand and openness to new ideas on the other.
Dede (Elizabeth Stanley) is caught between that old-time religion and new-time social trends. Photographs by Richard Termine.
Michael, while mannered and ready with a quip, is no stereotype, and Reese particularly shines in “I’m Your Man,” a bravura showpiece that hasn’t much to do with the plot but rips the house down. And Sam: She’s young, confused, and aching. Pagelle acts the hell out of her, and “Other Lives,” Sam’s contrasting of her mother’s freewheeling ways vs. her own straitjacketed existence, might be the most heartbreaking song you’ll hear all season.
Steven Kemp’s scenic design—a desk, a flag, not much else—is so basic it barely deserves billing, but Jennifer Paar’s costumes and David Lander’s lighting help establish time and place; Megumi Katayama’s sound design, while it clearly sweetens the vocals and the orchestra, keeps every lyric audible. As for Jonathan Silverstein’s direction, it can’t be praised enough: the emotions always feel real, the pacing natural and unforced, not a trace of look-at-me-I’m-the-director.
The show builds toward a conclusion that is as satisfying as it is uncynical, and a happy ending, something that’s become rare lately, and that we could use more of in such daunting times. With its celebration of diversity, honoring of theater’s healing powers, and smallish parameters, All the World’s a Stage doesn’t venture into unfamiliar territory. But familiar territory has rarely been this affecting.
Keen Company’s All the World’s a Stage runs at Theatre Row (410 W. 42nd St.) through May 10. Performances are Tuesday through Saturday at 7 p.m. with matinees on Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m., and an added matinee on Wednesday, May 7, at 2 p.m. For more information, or to purchase tickets, visit keencompany.org/alltheworldsastage.
Music, Book & Lyrics: Adam Gwon
Director: Jonathan Silverstein
Scenic Design: Steven Kemp
Costume Design: Jennifer Paar
Lighting Design: David Lander
Sound Design: Megumi Katayama
Prop Design: Thomas Jenkeleit
