Far From Heaven - A Valiant Attempt

Far From Heaven
Playwright's Horizons
Tuesday, May 14, 7pm

I desperately wanted to love this show given the merits of the artistic team, the subject matter and the fantastic cast (dreamy Steven Pasquale and the always lovely Kelli O’Hara).  But by the closing scene, I found myself surprisingly unmoved.  And this from a man who literally cries at the end of an Undercover Boss episode.

Trust me, I was open and ready for the moment I’d be moved to tears for Cathy, the show’s heroine (played sensitively by O’Hara).  But it never came. 

(MAJOR spoilers ahead)

Let me break down Cathy's shitty life for you (I almost cried just typing it):

• Her sexy, closeted husband won’t put out.
• She walks in on sexy husband with his tongue in another guys mouth.
• She falls in love with Raymond, a black man (in suburban 1950s Connecticut, no less), whose daughter gets attacked by white thugs.
• Raymond breaks it off and moves to Baltimore.
• She's abandoned by her husband for some hot young twink he meets on their vacation and is left alone to raise two young children.

Seems like a pretty emotionally devastating evening, right?  Sadly, I was left admiring the artistic effort and the talent on stage, but not so much the final product.

The first act was most troublesome for me. The opening number sets the tone well, but the rest of the act seems like a string of plot points relayed through a pleasant, if perfunctory, score.  Perhaps the writers are trying too hard to mirror the repressed emotional state of the characters through the writing.  The approach sounds good in theory, but in practice comes off like an extended recitative interspersed with several notable musical motifs that don't get fully developed. 

The second act is more successful.  There is a romantic sweep, almost lushness, to the score that I found missing in the first act.  Unfortunately, there are also many missed opportunities, moments – like the train station scene (seriously, where’s the big duet about lost love/opportunity?) – that pass without comment yet to me, scream out to be sung.  And don’t get me started on the embarrassingly bad blocking for the stoning scene.  Talk about not giving an audience credit for having an imagination.  

Yes, the setting is an idealized 1950s suburbia where everyone has the restrained veneer of Stepford perfection.  But this is also a musical, dammit!  A musical about passion, forbidden romance and lost inhibitions - massive emotions I didn't hear expressed in the score.  

The writers obviously respect the source material, but perhaps to the detriment of their adaptation.  There are some satisfying moments (especially between Cathy and Raymond, her black gardener) in both acts.  But for the most part, what's on stage is a faithful but dispassionate musicalized version of the movie. 

The ubiquitous Kelli O’Hara is the ingénue du jour, and rightly so.  She’s gorgeous, sings beautifully and is always so natural and un-mannered in her acting.  She’s perfect for the role of a dutiful 1950s housewife.  Steven Pasquale is equally perfect, handsome with a strong, lovely tenor.  Though for some reason the writers have chosen to set most of his character's music in Pasquale's less powerful lower range.

But the real travesty on the Playwrights Horizons' stage is the hulking, hideous scoffold set.  It looks like scavanged remnants from the Rent bus-and-truck.

On a side note, the fabulous Christine Ebersole (Tony winner for Korie & Frankel's Grey Gardens) sat right in front of me.  During intermish she chatted with composer Scott Frankel about recent productions of Grey Gardens in Brazil.