Lovers, a self proclaimed “bold new musical” is the story of a modern age love affair that ends in heartache and tragedy. While there are lessons to be learned from this two person show, they get skewed by awkward musical numbers and long winded acts.
So how does this love affair start? In short, guy’s girlfriend surprises him with a threesome involving her roommate but guy unexpectedly falls in love with girlfriend’s roommate and thus starts the beginning of their eight years together. Like I said, modern, but back to the start of the show.
The audience is first introduced to Chip and Jolie as Jolie returns from Chip’s funeral. We know from the start that Chip has committed suicide although we don’t find out why until almost two hours later. Jolie, now distraught, walks around her apartment sobbing when she discovers a package and letter from Chip written on the day that he died.
The letter narrates the entirety of their relationship together and simultaneously the musical. While their relationship “started out as a little bang bang hush,” the progression thereafter has a more familiar ring.
As two NYU Musical Grad School students they both had dreams of being in the music industry. Chip was going be a “Bono/Jim Morrison half-breed” while Jolie produced his records but responsibility trumped pursuing their dreams and instead they both started to work and moved into a place they could afford in Brooklyn.
We see Chip and Jolie struggle with the difficulty of finding out love isn’t always enough. Jolie laments having to leave Manhattan in the song “Manhattanite,” and Chip expresses his frustrations of being a paralegal proclaiming “In my life I thought I’d be more.” Work demands pull them away from each other and the strain and communication breakdown eventually leads to lies, secrets and the demise of their relationship.
While there are few negative comments to be said about Lovers, perhaps the one thing is that it tries too hard. The musical numbers didn’t always flow well with the scenes and each other and the ending was a bit rushed. When the audience has been waiting almost two hours to find out just what made Chip kill himself, the actual truth was revealed in about ten minutes. The anticipation and hype of a dramatic plot twist falls flat.
Overall the acting, the singing and the show were wonderfully entertaining. The band did a great job as well as the crew in terms of smooth transitions, lighting and sound. Will Taylor (Chip) and Courtney Hammond (Jolie) bring their characters to life and the audience was left buzzing with excitement afterwards.
The Beckett Theatre at Theatre Row
410 West 42nd Street
New York, NY
212-714-2442
www.loversmusical.com
