IN YOUR ARMS

Dance and romance reign supreme in In Your Arms, as thrilling an Old Globe World Premiere as I’ve seen in a good long while and one that most definitely deserves to be Broadway-bound.

Glenda Sol Koeraus and Henry Byalikov (foreground) with the cast in Nilo Cruz's vignette "The Lover's Jacket," part of the world premiere musical In Your Arms. In Your Arms, with music by Stephen Flaherty and direction and choreography by Christopher Gattelli, runs Sept. 16 - Oct. 25, 2015 at The Old Globe. Photo by Carol Rosegg. Master musical theater tunesmith Stephen Flaherty’s gorgeous melodies form the backdrop for a dozen story-through-dance vignettes as imagined by quite possibly the most illustriously award-winning collection of writers—Douglas Carter Beane, Nilo Cruz, Christopher Durang, Carrie Fisher, David Henry Hwang, Rajiv Joseph, Terrence McNally, Marsha Norman, Lynn Nottage and Alfred Uhry—ever assembled for a single show.

Samantha Sturm (center) with the cast in Carrie Fisher's vignette "Lowdown Messy Shame," part of the world premiere musical In Your Arms. In Your Arms, with music by Stephen Flaherty and direction and choreography by Christopher Gattelli, runs Sept. 16 - Oct. 25, 2015 at The Old Globe. Photo by Carol Rosegg. Still, these Tony-Pulitzer-Obie-Oscar-Peabody Award winners’ playlets are but the framework for choreographer-director Christopher Gattelli and some of the world’s finest dance talents to make magic over and over again on the Donald And Darlene Shiley Stage.

Spencer Clark and Lyrica Woodruff in "Prologue," part of the world premiere musical In Your Arms. In Your Arms, with music by Stephen Flaherty and direction and choreography by Christopher Gattelli, runs Sept. 16 - Oct. 25, 2015 at The Old Globe. Photo by Carol Rosegg. From ballet to flamenco to tango to martial arts to jazz to ballroom (flavored with African and Asian and French and Latin American spices), In Your Arms tells tale after tale-as-old-as-time (or at least as old as the production’s Romeo And Juliet “Prologue”).

Hayley Podschun and Brendon Stimson in Alfred Uhry's vignette "Love with the Top Down," part of the world premiere musical In Your Arms. In Your Arms, with music by Stephen Flaherty and direction and choreography by Christopher Gattelli, runs Sept. 16 - Oct. 25, 2015 at The Old Globe. Photo by Carol Rosegg. It would take too long to describe each and every sequence, but here are just a few of the evening’s highlights: Uhry’s “Love With The Top Down,” romance at its 1950s innocent/sexually repressed; Cruz’s “The Lover’s Jacket,” a tale of love and loss at a time of political repression in Spain; and Joseph’s “Intergalactic Planetary” with its doomed human-meets-extraterrestrial love affair.

(foreground, from left) Stephen Bienskie, Jenn Harris, Henry Byalikov, and Hayley Podschun with the cast in Christopher Durang's vignette "The Dance Contest," part of the world premiere musical In Your Arms. In Your Arms, with music by Stephen Flaherty and direction and choreography by Christopher Gattelli, runs Sept. 16 - Oct. 25, 2015 at The Old Globe. Photo by Carol Rosegg. Durang’s “The Dance Contest” imagines Soviet-American romance on the competitive dance floor at the height of Iron Curtain tensions; Fisher’s “Lowdown Messy Shame” features a Princess Leia-bunned Fisher typing out a story whose American-In-Paris-like characters decide take on a life of their own; and Bean’s “Artists And Models, 1929” takes a silent-movie approach to man-on-man love at a time when it was verboten.

(from left) Ryan Steele and Jonathan Sharp in Douglas Carter Beane's vignette "Artists and Models, 1929," part of the world premiere musical In Your Arms. In Your Arms, with music by Stephen Flaherty and direction and choreography by Christopher Gattelli, runs Sept. 16 - Oct. 25, 2015 at The Old Globe. Photo by Carol Rosegg. There’s not a less-than-exquisite link in the cast of young artists imported from New York for this World Premiere dance/romance extravaganza, from Marija Juliette Abney to Stephen Bienskie to Henry Byalikov to Claire Camp to Spencer Clark to Jeremy Davis to Jenn Harris to Glenda Sol Koeraus to Jess LeProtto to Adesola Osakalumi to Karine Plantadit to Hayley Podschun to Jonathan Sharp to Ryan Steele to Brendon Stimson to Alex Michael Stoll to Samantha Sturm to Oscar Valero to Erica Wong to Lyrica Woodruff.

George Chakiris and Donna McKechnie (center) with the cast in Terrence McNally's vignette "Sand Dancing," part of the world premiere musical In Your Arms. In Your Arms, with music by Stephen Flaherty and direction and choreography by Christopher Gattelli, runs Sept. 16 - Oct. 25, 2015 at The Old Globe. Photo by Carol Rosegg. A Chorus Line’s very first Cassie, Donna McKechnie, bookmarks In Your Arms as a woman of a certain age recalling her own long lost love and singing the show’s title song—lyrics by longtime Flaherty collaborator Lynn Ahrens—in a voice that makes it clear that it’s not just McKechnie’s dancing that made her a Broadway star.

George Chakiris and Donna McKechnie in Terrence McNally's vignette "Sand Dancing," part of the world premiere musical In Your Arms. In Your Arms, with music by Stephen Flaherty and direction and choreography by Christopher Gattelli, runs Sept. 16 - Oct. 25, 2015 at The Old Globe. Photo by Carol Rosegg. Finally, there is 1960 Oscar-winning Best Supporting Actor George Chakiris joining McKechnie for McNally’s “Sand Dancing,” and though West Side Story’s Bernardo does only a bit of dancing, seeing the still handsome, still limber-at-81 Chakiris onstage is icing on an already scrumptious dance feast.

Erica Wong and Alex Michael Stoll in David Henry Hwang's vignette "White Snake," part of the world premiere musical In Your Arms. In Your Arms, with music by Stephen Flaherty and direction and choreography by Christopher Gattelli, runs Sept. 16 - Oct. 25, 2015 at The Old Globe. Photo by Carol Rosegg. Scenic designer Derek McLane and projection designer Olivia Sebesky join creative forces to back each dance sequence with a stunning backdrop that would do the Impressionists proud. Jess Goldstein’s eclectic collection of costumes could not be more stunning, nor could Donald Holder’s lighting design, Peter Hylenski’s sound design, Michael Starobin’s orchestrations, or Larry Reed/ShadowLight’s shadow sequence design. Musical director Steven Malone conducts In Your Arms’ Broadway caliber pit orchestra.

Adesola Osakalumi and Marija Juliette Abney in Lynn Nottage's vignette "A Wedding Dance," part of the world premiere musical In Your Arms. In Your Arms, with music by Stephen Flaherty and direction and choreography by Christopher Gattelli, runs Sept. 16 - Oct. 25, 2015 at The Old Globe. Photo by Carol Rosegg. Casting is by Telsey + Company and Abbie Brady-Dalton, CSA. Mark Myars is associate Choreographer. Michael Domue is production stage manager and Jess Slocum is assistant stage manager.

Jeremy Davis and Claire Camp in Rajiv Joseph's vignette "Intergalactic Planetary," part of the world premiere musical In Your Arms. In Your Arms, with music by Stephen Flaherty and direction and choreography by Christopher Gattelli, runs Sept. 16 - Oct. 25, 2015 at The Old Globe. Photo by Carol Rosegg. It’s been fifteen years now since Contact won the Best Musical Tony, the last time an all-dance musical won Broadway’s biggest honor, and though I’d be going a bit too far out on a limb to predict that In Your Arms could (excuse the pun) follow in Contact’s footsteps, I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see it a front-runner.

Broadway producers. The next step is up to you.

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Donald And Darlene Shiley Stage, Old Globe Theatre, Balboa Park, San Diego.
www.oldglobe.org

–Steven Stanley
September 27, 2105
Photos: Carol Rosegg

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