*Love Life,* Mar 28, 2025

Susan and I saw *Love Life* at City Center Encores on Mar 28. 2025. It's a musical by Kurt Weill and Alan Jay Lerner from 1948. It had never been staged in New York since that original production. The Encores revival was originally announced in the 2020 season and on the last day in the rehearsal room they got the news that theaters were shutting down the next day because of Covid. I was sorely disappointed because I've been a Weill fanatic since his resurgence in the 80s and thought this would be my one opportunity to see this show. I kept an eye on Encores and hoped that they'd put it on in the future. I was thrilled that it was on the roster for this season.

It was worth the wait! The show is often referred to as the first "concept musical." Rather than explain what that means (because I can't) I'll tell you who was influenced by the show: Hal Prince, Stephen Sondheim, John Kander, Fred Ebb, and Bob Fosse all saw it in its six-month run and were all blown away by its unique storytelling and its audacity. It informed their shows *Cabaret,* *Company,* *Follies,* and *Chicago.* The common thread in all of these shows is that there are songs outside of the central story that comment on the story - - they're razzle dazzle show biz numbers that seem to happen apart from the story but on closer inspection they're a wry, sardonic commentary on the themes being examined. The audience is drawn in by the showmanship and if they're paying attention, they're disturbed by the hidden underbelly of cynicism. For me, that's a highly rewarding duality to experience as an audience member.

I've seen probably twenty shows at Encores and one of the joys is hearing the original orchestrations played by a first class orchestra, playing the music as the composer envisioned it, as the original audience heard it. These days Broadway musicals get by with less and less. I'll give you one example: Jonathan Tunick's original orchestra for Sondheim's 1973 musical *A Little Night Music* had 17 players - - for the 2008 Broadway revival he was brought in to shave it down to 8. It's the same music but it's a pale version of what it had been. The *Love Life* orchestra had 26 players and they played the hell out of this delicious score. Conductor Rob Berman, as usual, led the show with savvy and affection.

*Love Life* follows an American family, the Coopers (Mom and Dad, a son and a daughter) from 1791 to 1948. We see them move forward in time through six different time periods yet they never age. They develop but they don't get any older. The central marriage starts sunny and bright, falters and tries to find its way - - they eventually divorce but by the end of the show you get the feeling that they might get back to together, sadder but wiser. There was a discussion in the elevator among the theatergoers when we left the show, clearly longtime Encores fans. One guy referenced a recent New York Times article about the show and we all indulged him giving a recap. Clearly we had ALL read that article. As least once. Anyway, someone in the elevator said something along the lines of, "I thought it was a fascinating show, I was glad to see it, the music was extraordinary, the performances were all first rate, the staging was well done...but it didn't quite LAND for me. I can see why it hasn't been done since 1948." My diagnosis: even 75 years later we're still not prepared for a Broadway musical in which the central couple isn't happy. There were moments where the wife said something curt to her husband, or the husband was dismissive to his wife, and audience gasped. An audible gasp. This is how we've been trained by years of Broadway musicals. They shouldn't behave like that.

The central couple was played by Kate Baldwin and Brian Stokes Mitchell. They're both A-list Broadway stars and they were amazing. They sang with zest, they had great chemistry, and clearly they believed in the show and gave themselves whole-heartedly to putting it over. Nanette Fabray won the Tony for Best Actress in a Musical for the original production and it's not hard to imagine how great she must have been. It's an amazing role, it demands a lot of the performer, both as a singer and as an actor. The role of the husband isn't quite as rich but what a joy to hear Mitchell sing this gorgeous music.

Director Victoria Clark had the genius idea to reframe the show as being conjured by the two children, as a way of educating their parents about the problems in their marriage and hopefully getting them back together. The children were played by Christopher Jordan and Andrea Rosa Guzman and both were amazing. They had one number that involved some impressive tap dancing and they were a knockout. Stopped the show, of course. While we're talking about dancing, the choreography by Joann M. Hunter was fantastic. It was original, inventive, expressive, and did a great deal to heighten the effectiveness of the show.

I'll mention two other performers. Sara Jean Ford nailed a quasi-operatic song in the final sequence of the show. No surprise that they hired her, I saw in her bio that she had played Christine in *The Phantom of the Opera* and you've got to have chops to get through that part (and be something special indeed to get through eight shows a week). John Edwards had a touching song as a hobo midway through the show and played the MC in in the final sequence. He has a handsome voice and a lot of charisma. Susan spotted the MC role as a precursor to Ben Vereen's role in *Pippin.*

I found myself hoping that the show would be produced in colleges and universities. The two leading roles are exceptional, yes, but there are 10 or 12 other showy small roles, plus lots of solo lines in the ensemble numbers. Please let me know if you hear of anyone doing this show, I'd love to see it again.

Here's a video released by Encores, summarizing the show and their production: