It’s been speculated that our ever-increasing addiction to technology, smartphones in particular, makes us vulnerable to everything from depression to brain cancer. But what of the risks posed to the tiny inhabitants of those digital worlds we hold in our hands, where power struggles and political intrigue are a part of everyday life?
The latter is the comedic premise behind Emojiland The Musical, a Grand Jury Selection of 2018’s New York New Musical Festival, now being given a delightful staging at the Duke on 42nd Street. Librettist/lyricist/composers Keith Harrison and Laura Schein and director Thomas Caruso take us behind the screen of our portable lifelines, where we meet an array of literally and figuratively colorful characters, from the sunny-on-the-outside Smiling Face with Smiling Eyes—called Smize for short, and played by Schein—to the brooding, death-obsessed Skull, made spooky and hilarious by Lucas Steele, whose wry performance seems to nod to an array of overwrought horror flick villains.
The relatively ordered lives of these and other emojis are interrupted early on, when an update installs new characters, among them Nerd Face and Prince, respectively played by George Abud and Josh Lamon, fresh off his winning turn in The Prom. Here, Lamon is cast as a sassy androgyne whose presence threatens the reign of Princess, a tyrannical airhead imbued with trashy verve by the divine Lesli Margherita, vamping like a tipsy Cardi B and delivering her lines in a breathy, bratty voice that recalls Jennifer Tilly’s dimwitted gun moll in Bullets Over Broadway (the film, not the musical theater adaptation).
As Princess plots to ward off further progress, another sinister plan is being hatched, with the unwitting assistance of Nerd Face, whose coke-bottle glasses protect his super-charged brain better than his fragile heart. George Abud, marvelous in the role, combines classic comic timing—like Steele, he evokes old-school film actors, and comedians—with endearing empathy. He and Schein are the bittersweet, soulful spirits who ground, to a point, the scrumptiously manic antics of the others, who also include Jacob Dickey as Smiling Face with Sunglasses, or Sunny—a popular, shallow bro—and Heather Makalani, playing both the ditzy Kissy Face and the perkily efficient Information Desk Woman.
Felicia Boswell and Natalie Weiss lend more substance, vocally and in their presence, as, respectively, Police Officer and Construction Worker, whose rapport extends beyond professional camaraderie. Max Crumm is convincingly slimy as Man in Business Suit Rising, and Ann Harada makes an uproarious appearance as Pile of Poo, who sings and dances in white gloves and heels as projected images of other scatologically graphic emoji, accompanied by animated toilet plungers, twirl behind her. Projection designers Lisa Renkel & Possible, working with costumer Vanessa Leuck and lighting designer Jamie Roderick, craft a landscape of pastel and neon hues, turning David Goldstein’s fundamentally minimalist set—consisting chiefly of piles of white cubes —into a virtual (pun intended) playground.
Harrison and Schein’s catchy songs, meanwhile, cannily draw on and send up popular traditions and clichés, from the rock anthem (“Stand For”) to sleek R&B balladry (“Work Together”) to ebullient, mindless dance-pop (“Firewall Ball”). Caruso and choreographer Kenny Ingram sustain a party-like vibe, culling vibrant performances from a cast that also includes Dwelvan David and dancers Jordan Fife Hunt and Tanisha Moore, in a variety of roles.
If there is no grand, sober message beyond the fun, and the flashes of tenderness, it might be noted that at the preview performance I attended, I spotted not a single phone lit up while the show was in progress. Ironic, perhaps, but also an indication of the engrossing entertainment Emojiland, in its breezy fashion, provides.
Emojiland opened January 19, 2020, at the Duke on 42nd Street and runs through March 19. Tickets and information: dukeon42.org
