Steven Telsey, Blake Roman, Danny Kornfeld, Chip Zien, Eric Peters, Sean Bell, Zal Owen. Photo: Julieta Cervantes
You would think that a recording superstar on the level of Barry Manilow (85 million records sold) might enjoy a bit of a step up when attempting to get a show mounted on Broadway. You’d be wrong: From its conception some 30 years ago, Harmony hit every conceivable bump in the road, starting with a few fizzling out-of-town tryouts and a Covid delay before National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene succeeded in introducing it – to considerable acclaim – at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in the spring of 2022.
Certain elements remain: Beowulf Boritt’s simple but snazzy black-patent-leather-like box of a set and Warren Carlyle’s snappy direction and choreography continue to contribute plenty of sizzle. If a few clunker lines from longtime collaborator Bruce Sussman’s book and lyrics have managed to survive the transfer, the damage is minimal – perhaps because the storylines are so broadly limned to begin with.
In contrast to forebears such as Cabaret, this musical treatment – based loosely on a real sextet, the Comedian Harmonists, who toured the Continent and made it as far as Carnegie Hall – tends toward Holocaust Lite. The allusions to the antisemitic crackdowns escalating during the group’s early forays in Germany, 1927-35, skew schematic and glancing. The script presumes foreknowledge on the part of the adult audience. As for young theatergoers unschooled as yet in the horrors of the era (echoing down to this day), they’ll probably emerge with questions; nightmares, however, are unlikely.
[Read David Finkle’s ★★★★★ review here.]
The focus is on a makeshift sextet of dedicated crooners who band together, hoping to make a go of it amid Berlin’s booming cabaret scene. A few members are Jewish – as is the narrator figure, nicknamed “Rabbi,” played in youth by Danny Kornfeld and as a haimish alter kaker by Broadway veteran Chip Zien (who has dialed down the schmaltz – and built up his vocal stamina – considerably since the off-Broadway production). The young Rabbi forfeits his calling when he happens to fall in love with Mary, a shiksa seamstress performed rather blandly by Sierra Boggess (though to be fair it’s a one-dimensional role).
The other five singers portraying Harmonists deserve individual kudos: there’s not a less-than-stellar singer in the bunch. The ragtag newbies demonstrate their chops during their very first (fictional) gig, when they arrive at the club to find that their tuxes have been swiped. The resulting improv, involving pants-less hijinks accompanied by serving platters of all shapes and sizes, is outright hilarious.
The mood soon darkens with some broadly sketched, pro forma protest scenes, where we at least get to meet the singing pianist’s beloved, Ruth, a Jewish socialist agitator. Julie Benko makes the most of this underwritten role. Her half of the second-act duet “Where You Go,” sung in bitter contrast to Mary’s sunny version, is a knockout.
Intermission is prefaced by a presumptive cliffhanger, in the form of a debate set backstage in Carnegie Hall: Hearing that Hitler has seized the reins in Germany, should the band continue pursuing success in the U.S. or head back home? The reason for their ambivalence is unclear, though pivotal. Are they worried about stepping off the fast track to fame, or do they genuinely think they can effect change by returning? Once repatriated, they mount a clever protest pastiche in Copenhagen, vividly settling the question of motivation.
Flaws and all, and despite its rocky road to Broadway, Harmony is ultimately a rewarding experience, a feisty/funny survivor which remains tragically timely.
Harmony opened November 13, 2023, at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. Tickets and information: harmonyanewmusical.com
