The building of the Brooklyn Bridge is a remarkable story; in some ways a ghastly one. “Brooklyn’s Bridge,” an earnest and largely workmanlike musical, deserves respect for wanting to give some of the bridge’s unsung heroes a chance to sing. Emily Roebling (portrayed by Sarah Joyce) is the central character, having wound up in effect in charge during eleven of the thirteen years it took to complete this monument to ingenuity and persistence. But “Brooklyn’s Bridge” employs a large, competent cast to go beyond simple biography

Much is made of Emily’s relationship with her husband Washington Roebling (she and Tommy Krob get three love duets.) The show also introduces us to  master mechanic  E. F. (Frank) Farrington (stand-out Evan Blackwell), political cartoonist Thomas Nast, whose cartoons took down corrupt Boss Tweed, as well as Boss Tweed himself, the president of the bridge company William C. Kingsley, Brooklyn’s reformist mayor Seth Low, and several immigrant workers,  some two dozen of whom died primarily from the same disease that debilitated Washington, forcing Emily to take over. With Nast (Gannon Thomas) acting as narrator, we get debriefed about some of the technical, financial, and political challenges that Emily, Washington et al had to overcome. 

The 21 songs in the show add up to an eclectic score, sounding a little like “Ragtime” on occasion, sometimes “Suffs” (such as in “Marching On”), and, forgive me, at times it reminded me of “Empire the Musical”  There are several catchy tunes, and a couple of musical numbers that are cleverly staged, but there seems more interest in soaring arias and anthems than narrative coherence. It was hard for me to get past such lyrics as:

We’re marching on
to what’s beyond
We’ll make the climb
from dark to light
(to) where the dream is back in sight
and your towers touch the sky
like two cathedrals
eye to eye with trinity steeple
So then the people
can’t deny a thread of cable floating by
and a road of wooden plank on steel
from bank to bank
feels oh so real
and I will make it real

Brooklyn’s Bridge
The Space at Ironbound through August 23
Running time: 2 hours and 15 minutes, including an intermission
Tickets: $42 – $62
Music by Joseph Baker
Book and lyrics, and directed by Ray Roderick
Choreography by Kelli Barclay
Music director Blake Brauer
Costume design by MK Giunen, Iighting design by Emilio Maxwell Cerci, sound design by Zoe McGlynn
Cast: Sarah Joyce as Emily Washington Roebling, Tommy Krob as Colonel Washington Roebling, Matthew Ballestero as Tweed, Evan Blackwell as EF Farrington, Adam Du Plessis as Kingsley, Brandon Roth as John Meyers, Gannon Thomas as Thomas Nast, Justin Vrana as O’Mallery, Ana Daniela Perez, Kelly Prendergast,