Saturday Church (c) Marc J. Franklin
Theater: Saturday Church
At New York Theatre Workshop
The most ingenious element of Saturday Church, the vibrant and engaging new musical at New York Theatre Workshop, is its concept, which parallels Sunday church, the Christian-faith kind with scripture readings and gospel choirs, with Saturday Church, the makeshift, volunteer-based sanctuary in urban cities, where mostly homeless LGBTQ+ youths have a place to connect and get any help they might need. Both churches purport to be an inclusive community, but the Sunday one, mostly misreading the Bible, has rules that must be obeyed and sins that must not be tolerated, while the Saturday one seemingly follows the teachings of Jesus (but maybe not to the letter of the law) helping those in need. Speaking of Jesus, they do show up in the musical, more in the guise of Sasha Fierce than your usual white man in a robe. In fact, Ulysses (Bryson Battle), our main character, humorously calls this deity/occasional run-in/hallucinations Black Jesus. As played by Tony Award winner J. Harrison Ghee, Black Jesus gives this production a sense of humor and wider world view as the rest of the plot, at least on paper, is pretty bleak. The musical’s two main stories both deal with loss. First, there’s Ulysses, the young effeminate New Jersey churchgoer has just lost his father. It puts a strain on his mother, Amara (Kristolyn Lloyd), who takes extra shifts as a nurse, and makes his Aunt Rose (Tony winner Joaquina Kalukango) even more overprotective than she usually is. Then there’s Ebony (B Noel Thomas), a trans mama bear figure, who runs the Saturday Church near the Christopher Street Piers with their best friend Sasha, who recently died tragically. How these two stories intersect is the main focus of Saturday Church, and as Black Jesus promises at the top of the show, will show us “what collective love looks like.”
Saturday Church (c) Marc J. Franklin
Everything about this musical technically is exciting, starting with Whitney White’s kinetic direction and Darrell Grand Moultrie’s explosive choreography. David Zinn’s sets area nice, simple canvas for Adam Honoré’s excellent and tireless lighting design and Gareth Owen’s nicely modulated and immersive sound design. But the special mention has to be made to costume designer Qween Jean, whose designs never not elicit gasps and joy, particularly at the finale ballroom fashion show (pay close attention to Ulysses’s grand reveal). The show is based on the 2017 Damon Cardasis film, with Cardasis co-writing the show with Tony Award winner James Ijames (Stereophonic), along with pop star Sia and DJ Honey Dijon, and it doesn’t quite overcome the challenge of making its familiar story feel fresh, but it also doesn’t wallow too much in the clichés of this kind of drama. The show shares a lot of DNA with the musical Kinky Boots, with Sia’s songs, like fellow pop star turned musical songwriter Cyndi Lauper, being the beating, deep bass heart of the show, especially in the ode to high heels “Nothing to Lose,” which is Saturday Church’s version of Boots’ bouncy “The Sex Is in the Heels.” The cast is first-rate, but I must single out the leads Battle and Thomas in their Off-Broadway debuts, both self-assured, fearless and have voices that set, as one of the catchy songs says, “the house on fire.” In these horrible political times we find ourselves in the year of our Black Jesus 2025, I would say this ready-to-move show would be a perfect rallying cry on Broadway.
House of McQueen (c) Thomas Hodges
Theater: House of McQueen
At The Mansion at Hudson Yards
One of the newest theaters in New York is the beautiful The Mansion at Hudson Yards, which lies in the farthest north quadrant of Hudson Yards, and is hardly a mansion, but a wonderful, “mold the playing space as you want it” aesthetic. Unfortunately, the inaugural production of House of McQueen has chosen a traditional proscenium configuration when a more experimental layout may have given life to the mostly rote bioplay outline of the mostly messy but visionary life of designer Alexander McQueen. Darrah Cloud’s play starts with McQueen (the wonderful Luke Newton) at the height of his popularity as the designer for Givenchy, being interviewed on TV by his own mother, Joyce (an underused Emily Skinner). Their interaction transports McQueen back to his working-class childhood in southeast London in the 1970s when he was known as Lee. Bouncing back and forth in time, Cloud contrasts McQueen’s life as a lonely and sexually abused kid with a penchant for fashion (he draws his ideas on his bedroom wall) to the openly gay enfant terrible of the fashion world. His most important female relationship (besides his mother) is with his patron and mentor Isabella Blow (Catherine LeFrere, who understands the assignment and is the most vibrant character on stage).
House of McQueen (c) Thomas Hodges
There are the occasional flashes of cheeky fun, mostly provided by the talented design team of Andres Martin (music), Brad Peterson (projections) and, most importantly, the costume reimagining by Kaye Voyce, who captures the couture but rarely everyday women’s wear McQueen designs. Unlike Karl Lagerfeld or John Galliano, McQueen himself was not as flamboyant or as severe as his designs, and British actor Luke Newton, known mostly for his role in TV’s Bridgerton making an impressive New York debut, is giving us a portrait of man with obsessions and demons, the two being almost indistinguishable. But even the charisma of Newton and the ensemble cast can’t make up for the lack of forward momentum in Sam Helfrich’s production, which feels less theatrical and daring than any of McQueen’s fashion shows.
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