Good intentions go a long way in the theater—especially with a show based on real-life events. And the Florida-born off-Broadway musical From Here, which reflects on the aftermath of the Pulse Nightclub shooting in Orlando, is built on good intentions, powered by raw emotion, and buttressed by eight years’ worth of grief.
Thankfully, From Here—written and directed by Donald Rupe, cofounder of Orlando’s Renaissance Theatre Co., which is producing the show at the Signature—doesn’t dramatize the events of June 12, 2016. (With 49 people dead and more than 50 wounded, it was then the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.) Rather, it focuses on the city’s LGBTQ+ community, primarily through the story of Daniel (Blake Aburn) and his close-knit group of friends.
In fact, Pulse is mentioned only a couple times before the final scenes: “It’s our friend Jordan’s birthday and it’s 2016, so we’re going out. “It’s Tuesday, so we’re going to Pulse for Tini-Tuesdays,” Daniel tells us in an awkward bit of exposition. (“It’s 2016” is mentioned numerous times, including in a too-easy joke about you-know-who running for president.) So Daniel, his boyfriend Michael (Jullien Aponte), and their fabulous friend Adam (Justin Jimenez) go to Pulse—$2 martinis, so one must!—to celebrate Jordan (Michelle Coben) turning 25 again as Daniel sings the vague “Where Do I Go,” one of the 19 songs in the 105-minute show.
Between scenes and addressing the audience amiably, Daniel leaves musical voicemails for his estranged mother (Becca Southworth); splits with Michael; connects with cutie Ricky (Omar Cardona); attends Jordan’s cabaret show, where she slays with the song “Gay Is Better” (“Gay men/ The future is they-them/ To hell with the straight men…”); fights with his mom; hosts a totally debauched game night (the rules, which involve vodka and extreme judginess, are spelled out in the hilarious “Gayme Night”); and tries to make amends with his mom.
Eventually he gets a call about the goings-on at Pulse, and the group comes together to collectively mourn and share memories—and we feel like we’ve stepped through a portal into an entirely different show, a sort of Orlando version of the post-9/11 Canadian tale Come From Away. Yet we’ve invested so much time in Daniel’s personal saga that the Pulse story feels, unfortunately, tacked on. It also feels a little like Angel’s funeral in Rent; in fact, From Here owes quite a bit to Rent.
A separate director might have been able to blend the two plots more cohesively. He also likely would have spotted the cringier moments, such as Daniel’s extremely abstract transitional monologue meditating on time. (“She shoves us forward, while her father, Death, pulls us ever-closer. Inch by inch, he waits for us, at the finish line. Mother, though—life—she’s everywhere.”) And he might have realized that there are five possible endings in that last cathartic Pulse scene. Any of them would have been heart-rending and wrapped up the show nicely, but all of them together—plus a solo for Daniel post-curtain call—are redundant.
From Here opened July 1, 2024, at the Pershing Square Signature Center and runs through Aug. 11. Tickets and information: fromhere.com
