“Very poppy,” a character says to Bobby (Corey Cott), the Leading Man, just after he’s performed “Do You Believe in Love,” one of more than two dozen songs from the 1980s band Huey Lewis and the News in this new jukebox musical opening tonight on Broadway. I knew “poppy” was meant as an insult only because the character saying it is the Villain, Tucker (Billy Harrigan Tighe), Bobby’s rival, the preppy ex-boyfriend of Cassandra (McKenzie Kurtz) who is the Leading Lady.
It turns out poppy is fighting words to Huey Lewis cognoscenti.
“We had a sound that no one else had,” the band’s drummer Bill Gibson reminisced more than a dozen years ago in an interview I dug up. “In the early 80s it was all this poppy, new wave-ish, all-over-the-map stuff.”
So, ok, I won’t call “The Heart of Rock and Roll” poppy. If not poppy, it’s certainly predictable, a blast of 1980s nostalgia with a by-the-numbers plot that would not be out of place in a conventional 1950s musical comedy. But for what it is, the show has its moments. Cott gives another reliable central performance, surrounded by stand-out supporting players. Lorin Latarro’s choreography rocks, and hops, and sometimes completely flips (there are acrobatic dancers in the ensemble.) In between the catchy tunes, eye-rolling contrivance competes with cleverness; sometimes, clever wins.
When the curtain rises, Bobby is facing the heavens in the midst of a rock scream in the first of several renditions of “Do You Believe in Love,” backed up by his blue Stratocaster guitar and a band. But in a smart bit of stagecraft, we see that he’s daydreaming, listening to his yellow Walkman, during a break from his blue-collar job in a cardboard box making company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, owned by Mr. Stone (John Dossett), whose daughter Cassandra (!) runs the accounting department.
As Bobby takes his place in the assembly line, he sings “Hip to Be Square,” with the ensemble eventually joining in.
But Bobby Stavic turns out to be a go-getter in the mold of J. Pierrepont Finch from “How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying,” except not as devious or competent. Trying to convince Mr. Stone to promote him to the sales team, he makes an unauthorized, money-losing deal, and Mr Stone reluctantly fires him.
Bobby tells Roz, the company’s HR executive (Tamika Lawrence) that he’s going to find a way to make back the money he lost for the company and get rehired, which leads to “Be Someone,” the one song written (by Huey Lewis, Johnny Colla and Brian Usifer) specifically for the show (“I wannna be someone/Come what may/I wanna be someone/Who always finds a way.”)
So far, the song’s lyrics have been a smooth fit for the situations they’re placed in. But then, his new scheme is to attend the 1987 Midwest Packaging Convention and try to pitch a deal with the keynote speaker. He corners Fjord (Orville Mendoza) who treats him dismissively, until Bobby starts singing (again) ‘Do you believe in love?”
“Love?” Fjord asks, understandably confused.
“Love,” Bobby elaborates, no longer singing. “Not just for profit, but for creation…” Then he takes up the song again. Lyrics alternate with pep talk – just the first song in the show that equates love with business success. I have to give the creative team the benefit of the doubt that this bizarre capitalist spin is their effort at deliberately cheeky retrofitting in the manner of “& Juliet.”
Fjord seems persuaded, telling Bobby to meet him the next day in the sauna – which, considering the song Bobby just sang to him, seemed to suggest a transgressive turn in the plot, which of course the show is too anodyne to pursue – although it does offer an excuse for our Leading Man to exhibit his abs.
The convention happens to be in Chicago, which is apparently Bobby’s hometown, or in any case, where his three former bandmates live, one of whom sent him the demo tape that Bobby was listening to at the start of the show. Cassandra is also in Chicago for the convention, where her best friend from college Paige (Zoe Jensen) reconnects her with her old insufferable boyfriend Tucker, whom we first see singing in a dorky collegiate glee club, then wearing an annoyingly bright green jacket with a pink sweater. (The creative team really wants us to dislike him.)
These happenstances set up Bobby’s two simultaneous dilemmas. The Stones (I guess this is a spoiler, but not really) take him back, but the band also needs him back to make it big, and appeals to his loyalty:
Glenn (F. Michael Haynie): C’mon. This “corporate act” isn’t you. Deep down, you’re still the same kid I
met back in detention….
Eli (John-Michael Lyles): Our band was about more than the four of us playing music together.
JJ (Raymond J. Lee): We became brothers. Every triumph, every heartbreak, every restraining order… we’ve been through a lot.
Eli: It’ll be like old times. Only new! (A succinct summary of jukebox musicals?)
Will he give up his new career and go on the road with the band? Will he win the girl? Will you care?
The Heart of Rock and Roll
James Earl Jones Theater
Running time: Two hours and 30 minutes including one intermission
Tickets: $46 – $288
Music by Huey Lewis and the News
Book by Jonathan A. Abrams, and story by Tyler Mitchell and Jonathan A. Abrams. Music Supervision, Arrangements, and Orchestrations by Brian Usifer, Musical Direction by Will Van Dyke, Choreography by Lorin Latarro and Direction by Gordon Greenberg. Additional creative team members are Derek McLane (Scenic Designer), Jen Caprio (Costume Designer), Japhy Weideman (Lighting Designer), John Shivers (Sound Designer), Nikiya Mathis (Hair, Wig, and Makeup Designer)
Cast: Corey Cott (Bobby), McKenzie Kurtz (Cassandra), Josh Breckenridge (Wyatt), F. Michael Haynie (Glenn), Zoe Jensen (Paige), Tamika Lawrence (Roz), Raymond J. Lee (JJ), John-Michael Lyles (Eli), Orville Mendoza (Fjord), Billy Harrigan Tighe (Tucker) and John Dossett (Stone). Mike Baerga, Tommy Bracco, TyNia René Brandon, Olivia Cece, Taylor Marie Daniel, Autumn Guzzardi, Lindsay Joan, Ross Lekites, Robin Masella, Michael Olaribigbe, Kevin Pariseau, and Robert Pendilla round out the ensemble, with Joe Moeller, Jennifer Noble, Fredric Rodriguez Odgaard, and Leah Read as the swings.
Photos by Matthew Murphy
