Written by David Byrne (Composer, Lyricist, Bookwriter, Orchestrator)
Director: Alex Timbers, (he directed Bloody, Bloody)
Saw this show March 1, 2017 at the Public Theatre.
In general terms, it started out meh and got good by the end. The name (and ESPECIALLY the publicity art) seemed to imply that it was a hardcore rock musical. Much to my surprise, the opening number started MT, and changed to 70's Peter, Paul and Mary and then to... nope, there was no third thing. Most of the first half of the show sat in Peter, Paul and Mary world, though there WAS an amazing MT dance break as she was learning to fight, that combined great choreography and music in a way that was hands down the best part of the show.
On the whole, the songs felt the same, were the same tempos, and had the same languid tempo for lyric delivery ("I'm going to sing some slow eigths." .... ..... ..... "And then wait for the next phrase." ...... in EVERY song it seems).
The lyrics were alright. Great use of not needing to rhyme. There were at least one or two really intriguing points made effectively with rhetoric. There were also moments using the cheesy archaic re-ordering of words I don't like (akin to "this, you shall do" or "stories they do tell").
IMO, the show got good when she was thrown in jail the first time. The music really started to acquire the rock quality I was expecting from the advertisements (there was also a fun dark-in-subtext song that used text of a Psalm from the Bible set to a great MT two-step thing about how the priests were gonna torture her. THAT was good biting writing.)
The end of the show they brought out the only other female actor (as Joan's mother at the retrial 24 years after her death) was... reasonably effective, anyway. Kind of a slow mantra song "Send her to heaven" repeated over and over to a panel of judges? church officials? who were facing upstage in a semicircle (they were facing the mom). She went through a few verses and choruses to no avail, but then one by one the jurors got up and embraced her, etc. and joined her in singing. The song was well acted, and seemed just the right length (ie managed to not feel too long, actually). I think it'd be a great way to come down after 90 minutes of face-melting rock. And was an acceptable way to come down from maybe 20 min of chocolate-melting rock. Basically, IMO there's no downsides to adding more face-melting and more rock to the show.
Staging: Got better as the show progressed. Started with everything DSC.
Choreography: Seemed acceptable for a workshop. While this is still in the workshop stage, it's not a workshop production! It was fully realized! So I wish most of the choreo was better/more intense. The one exception is of course the fighting montage dance break that was the best part of the show. :P
Lighting: SPEAKING of best parts of the show, I think the lighting was great. Effective use of LEDs, including crosses that were sometimes crosses, and sometimes lost the arms for effect. These were also in the sides of the rotating staircase, and actually extended a ways into the audience. Which created some INCREDIBLE unifying pictures. (and a use of Christian imagery that was effective in tone-setting, and also artistic and not over-done. Once they set up the crosses, I feel like they didn't have the arms more often than not. It was beautiful minimalist shorthand.) There was ALSO a great use of shadow at the back of the stage to emphasize some cool things when they were lit (like Joan appearing at the top @ the end of the final song). Drawing focus via staging DS and choreo all collaborating helped emphasize this.
One disappointing moment near the end with a VFX. There was a strobe that flashed through the mirror tunnel in the rotating stairs, but as it was reflected, you could see the bald bulb which overpowered any wash or area lighting they might have been trying to go for.
Costumes: Effective. Especially Joan's everything (leather swag, bandages in prison, etc.) Though the half-British, half-French costumes were NOT effective, and that entire moment was hella confusing(where the British gradually took out the French, but the same actors were just turning US or DS to represent larger groups of people).
Set: Taken up by a GIANT STAIRCASE smack-dab center. It's wide, it's tall. It's constrictive. Those were my initial thoughts, but then it TURNED. And I liked it in the end (though it is still wide and tall and generally maybe too big for the space.). Each side (4) had a different function. The front was just stairs. The back was stairs with alcoves for musicians to play in (which was maybe not as effective as they hoped, though when they sang harmony, it was nice to be able to see them). Each side of the stairs opened into a single mirrored tunnel that ran under the highest point of the stairs, allowing for entrances and exits (including a considerably-less-impressive vanishment during Joan's burning, cause we've seen her go that way like 5 times already, so we ALL know where she "vanished" to in the 5 seconds the lights were blinding us from movement...
Projections: Some were effective (flames in the background, projecting her face during her trial also worked reasonably well) and some seemed to diminish the tone of the show in a self-referential, self-aware and ultimately ineffective attempt at humor and/or spouting trivia. (Like the thing about "this is an exact transcript from the trial? I get why it's important in terms of "Joan was actually this badass, we're not just making her so for a feel-good story, but A) why was the dialogue not set to music? Text setting has been an effective art form for like a bajillion years, and B) I think the non-serious use of the projections in other parts of the show made it less of an effective informative tool in this instance than it would have been otherwise. (Still on the fence about the "They actually said this" in moments relating to the "in this time, it was thought only a virgin could hear God" though it did make the super-awkward "is she pure" and "let's examine her hymen" moments clear that the writer was trying to deal with ridiculous historical thought in a modern show. Probably would have been still more ok if the writer had not used "Pure_____" as a held-out lyric twice.)
