Bandstand

Guest Review

The TV promos do this show a disservice. While they do showcase the music and its performance, they do little to differentiate this show from a jukebox musical.  I assure you it is not one of those.  In Bandstand (directed and choreographed by Andy Blankenbueler, music by Richard Oberacker, book and lyrics by Robert Taylor and Richard Oberacker), original music serves the story, rather than the other way around.  The music is performed by actors and this is a welcome modern turn we have seen done in Cabaret, Bright Star, and Come From Away, among others.  It is awesome, really.

The story opens in the dark.  An increasingly threatening concussive beat tells us that this will not be a simple light-hearted diversion.  The lights go up on a battlefield, where soldiers weave their personal conversation with artillery hits and urgent battlefield instructions.  The dread telegraphed by the percussion is soon realized.  

The story resumes in postwar Cleveland.  Civilians welcome veterans home (song- Just Like It Was Before) without addressing the hell they experienced on their behalf.   Gold Star families are isolated, even while being revered. (song - Who I Was)  Swing music and dance offer frenetic distractions to what was then not well described, but what we know call PTSD.   Civilians and soldiers alike sing about wanting life to be like it was before.  

PTSD appeared then as it appears now - substance abuse, mental illness,  and unremitting loneliness.  The veterans appear to be able to briefly acknowledge their suffering when talking to each other.    They are charming and funny.  Davy (Brandon James Ellis), the bass player’s (relatively) functional alcoholism and good humor make him fine company for the duration of the show.  The spats between Wayne (Geoff Packard), the brittle trombonist and Mick (Alex Bender),  the divo trumpet player are similarly heartwarming.  And the relationship that develops (or doesn’t) between Donny (Corey Cott) and Julia (Laura Osnos), his best friend’s Gold Star widow, is fun to root for.  The saxophonist Jimmy (James Nathan Hopkins) is a nascent lawyer, and the drummer Johnny (Joe Carroll) is comfortable with his traumatic brain injury.  He experiences memory issues but feels he is lucky, freed from awful memories.

Correy Cott as Donny and Laura Osnes as Julia

The veterans who join Donny in the Donny Nova Band have found a brief respite from the horrors that pursue them.  They support each other and the music that assuages the pain.

The “lets put on a show” plot involves a corporate-sponsored competition by and for vets who are to submit an original song, which they then perform. The vets who win are expecting vindication but may be disappointed. One wonders how Bayer Aspirin, the corporation whose ethics are skewered, feels about this depiction

High points-

• I Know A Guy - This song walks through the creation of the Donny Nova Band, player to player.  Each player knows a guy, a talented musician who is a vet, all with quirks of varying levels of endearment.  The band is neatly created, like six degrees of separation in reverse.  A very satisfying bit.
• Welcome Home (the second version)  - This song, played by the band and fronted by Julia (sung by Laura Osnos), is a passionate and desperate, welcoming home the broken brothers, sons,  husbands, and lovers.  It doesn’t pretend that everything is back the way it was.  It is very moving, and earned a long and deserved ovation in the performance that I saw.  
• Things Happen performed by Beth Leavel (Mrs. Adams, Julia’s mother). Her depiction is charming and natural. The audience palpably relaxed whenever she was on stage.  She is a strong woman,  clear-eyed but not defeated.  She sings this song to Julia when she is seeking a meaning in her suffering.  Her answer is that things happen for no reason, and to look for a meaning is pointless.  She sings,  “What matters when things happen is what happens after.”  A very affecting and intelligent song.
• Costumes, set, lighting and sound all contributed to the creation of the studios, the homes, the battlefields, the streets of Cleveland, and ultimately the streets of New York City as they appear to the young people who see it for the first time.  
• Choreography (Andy Blankenbuehler, who also directed).  The swing dancing was exuberant and athletic, and when it represented more than just dance as a diversion, it was eloquent.
• All of the actor/musicians. I have my favorites.  You will too.  

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Guest review by Jeanne Genova-Goldstein - What do I look for in a play? I want it to let me share someone else's experience of the world.  I want to learn something new.  While I also indulge in pure entertainment - classic musicals, farces - they are like eating ice cream.  I love ice cream, but sometimes I need a challenging play for sustenance.  I love it all, even when it is bad. There is always something to learn from it.