“A Walk on the Moon” is the disappointing musical adaptation of the 1999 indie movie about the romance between an unhappy bouffant-wearing Jewish housewife named Pearl and a long-haired blouse salesman named Walker, who meet when he shows her his wares at a Borscht Belt bungalow colony in the summer of 1969. That is the summer of both the lunar landing (hence the title of both movie and musical) and the Woodstock music festival, which happens to be nearby.
If the movie was smaller than it aimed to be – it felt a stretch to connect Pearl’s awakening to that of the nation reacting to these two era-defining events – it was sexy, beautifully acted, and full of informed, warm and amused observations about the now-defunct milieu of Catskills resorts for working class New York Jews.
I can say some of the same things about the musical – which, after all, has a book by Pamela Gray, the screenwriter of the movie, who has retained any number of scenes, cultural observations and even verbatim lines of dialogue. And yet, to my surprise, too much of “A Walk on the Moon,” opening tonight Off-Broadway, strikes me as dated and dull.
The cast, to be clear, is hard-working and appealing.
Talia Suskauer is a relatable Pearl. Max Chernin as her agreeable but square husband Marty wins us over, although Sam Gravitte makes the long-haired blouse man Walker Jerome such a charming heartthrob that one can hardly blame Pearl for succumbing.
The best-known member of the cast, Andréa Burns, who has previously portrayed Latina and Italian characters on Broadway (“In The Heights,” “The Rose Tattoo,”) is here completely persuasive as Marty’s wise and witty Jewish mother Lillian, bubbie to Pearl and Marty’s teenage daughter, Alison.
Sophie Pollono is a standout as Alison, who experiences her own junior awakening, aided by Oscar Williams, who is terrific as the junior heartthrob albeit comically awkward Ross.
So why didn’t it work better for me?
The problem is the score by AnnMarie Milazzo,
Now, Milazza is nothing if not professional. She also composed the pleasing score for “Joy: A New True Musical.” Several of the songs in“A Walk on the Moon” are especially lovely, such as the scene between Marty and daughter Sophie, “We Made You,” in which Marty puts a more romantic spin on Sophie having been an “accident,” the fruit of an unplanned teenage pregnancy.
When I watched the movie after attending the musical, however, I made an ironic discovery: The movie used music far more intelligently than the musical to tell this particular story.
(Warning: Mild spoilers ahead for those who haven’t watched the 27-year-old movie, and want to pretend that what happens isn’t predictable)
When Pearl Kantrowitz (Diane Lane) and her family (including her husband Marty, portrayed by Liev Schreiber) are in the car making their way upstate at the start of the movie, we hear Bobby Darin singing “More.” But as the story unfolds, the soundtrack turns from corny crooner music to full-on Sixties psychedelia: Janis Joplin, Joni Mitchell, Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead. In a scene in Woodstock, we hear Richie Havens (off-camera) singing “Freedom.”
After the affair is exposed, we then see husband Marty listening to Bob Dylan’s Subterranean Homesick Blues – and bopping along to it, a sign that he’s opening up to the changes around him. Then near the end of the movie, Marty and Pearl in an attempt at a rapprochement dance to a radio playing “When You’re Smiling (The Whole World Smiles with You)” sung by Dean Martin – and we think we’ve gone back to square one (emphasis on square.). But then, Marty switches the radio music to Jimi Hendrix’s “Purple Haze” – a not-subtle message that both Pearl and Marty have been awakened in the summer of ’69; perhaps they will reconcile.
There seems an effort in the musical to imply a similar transformation through psychedelic elements in Tal Yarden’s scenic and video design. But I detected no such effort in the score. There are a couple of cheerfully over-the-top musical numbers that I found outright annoying, but the score is mostly quite pleasant. Compared to the sounds of the 60s, however, it feels positively generic.
A Walk on the Moon
Laura Pels Theater through August 22
Running time: Two hours and two minutes including an intermission
Book and additional lyrics by original screenwriter Pamela Gray
Music and lyrics by AnnMarie Milazzo,
Directed by Sheryl Kaller
Choreography by Josh Prince.
Scenic video fesign by Tal Yarden, costumes by Ricky Lurie, lighting byRobert Wierzel, sound by Justin Stasiw, music direction by Jillian Zack
Cast: Talia Suskauer as Pearl Kantrowitz; Max Chernin as Marty Kantrowitz; Sam Gravitte as Walker Jerome; Andréa Burns as Lillian; Sophie Pollono as Alison, Oscar Williams as Ross. Tovah Feldshuh (the voice of Mrs. Fogler); Jodi Bluestein (Understudy); Leo Caravano and Reid Gardner Clarke (alternating as Danny); Andrew Faria (Irv); Tucker Gold (Understudy); David R. Gordon (Neil); Megan Kane (Bunny); Caroline Pernick (Eleanor); Ellie Schwartz(Understudy); Richard Spitaletta (Understudy); Becca Suskauer (Rhoda); and Michael Tacconi (Stan).
