Queens Boulevard (the Musical)

Adam Marple

What a fun show! I have not had a night of theatre in which I have smiled through the entire event before. Taking on the guise of a wedding party that we are all invited to, Queens Blvd. (the musical) is Chuck Mee’s newest show to open at the Signature Theatre, which has decided to premiere three of his newest works as their season. The event of the night starts the second you walk into the theater. With music blaring and the set noticeable upon entrance, all you can think is, “This is so tacky, so bright, so Queens.” The set for this show is an amazing amalgamation of everything you have ever seen if you have been to Queens. The point is driven home even more when you remember the plastic antiseptic Times Square you had to walk through to get to the theater. All the blinking lights and crazy billboards in Queens Blvd seem authentic and genuine, they feel lived through. In a retelling of the classical Indian story of Shakuntala, we are invited to attend the wedding of Shizuko (played by a stunningly joyful Michi Barall) and her husband Vijay (played by Amir Arison in a fantastic Off-Broadway premiere). With a DJ as narrator through the piece, we as an audience are invited to participate, and we gladly come along for the ride. Asking if there are any newlyweds (yes, two days) and who in the audience has been married the longest (a couple in front of me - 62 years), we are regaled with Jell-O shots and Polaroids to remember this occasion by.

Queens Boulevard (the musical) is called a musical in the loosest sense. 'Musical' is in parenthesis for a reason; this is a karaoke musical, a montage musical. The plot is very thin, but the writing is so good that you don’t even mind. There are some amazing moments with certain characters (there are 40 off them) and there are some of the greatest speeches that I have heard in any of Chuck Mee’s plays. What is not very good is the choreography. It’s as if the choreographer heard that this was a karaoke musical and they thought they could phone in the dancing as well. While Michi Baral and Amir Arison are fantastic the rest of the cast leaves something to be desired. It’s as if in search for the most multicultural cast around, they didn’t look for the best multicultural cast around. Characters aren’t just made with fake moustaches and loud accents. It was amazing to see the city we all live in proportionately represented on stage. It was disheartening, however, to see the sea of shining white faces staring back at them. If only the theatre were to bring in the people whose culture is being represented on stage, then something amazing would happen. There are problems in the middle; the director, Davis McCallum, falls into the trap that many directors that tackle Chuck Mee’s texts fall into. The episodic nature of his writing demands that you drive from one scene to the next; Mr. McCalum decides to give us blackouts and musical underscoring instead. But you get so much joy out of this piece that all is forgiven at the amazing ending. Will this change the face of theatre? No. It could introduce many new people to a form they have never seen but the real change will come to the attitudes of people. You cannot leave this love letter to Queens without being happy and being glad you are alive. Then you walk through Times Square again and actually think about hopping the N, R, W to the other borough that seems so much more real.