Albert Einstein may seem the least likely of protagonists for a contemporary pop musical, but wonder of wonders, he makes for a compelling leading man in Rebel Genius – A Love Story, Matthew Puckett’s World Premiere showcase for the gifted triple-threats of UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television’s Ray Bolger Musical Theater Program

Handsome, cool, sweet, a fool, a lover, a liar, a failure, a rebel, a best friend, a misfit–the future Nobel Prize winner (Michael Wells in a charismatic star turn) was all of the above and more, and not about to heed his father Herman’s (Timothy Hoffman) advice to leave behind his “stupid obsession” with finding a “theory of everything” when heading off to university studies in Zurich with best friend Besso (Olly Sholotan), bespectacled nerd Marcel (Kelsey Kato), and Aryan-ideal Conrad (Carson Robinette), whose “Are you a German?” reveals a foreboding interest in “racial hygiene.”

In his search for a single equation to explain the nature of everything in the universe, Albert soon finds himself driving “Herr Professor Weber” (Fernando Carsa) to distraction, and not just because he can’t get his stuffy teacher’s full title right, but because Albert’s methodology (“I imagine pictures. I don’t do the math.”) runs counter to everything his tradition-bound prof holds dear.

Having left his sultry would-be sweetheart Elza (Jeilani Rhone-Collins) behind, Albert soon finds himself bewitched by the lone female in his class, and so tongue-tied around the brainy Mileva (Sara James) that their meet-cute has him returning her nervously-put interest in his latest theory (“Handsome! I mean it fits together handsomely.”) with his own unintentional double-entendre (“Yes, it builds. The way you built it. You built a well-built …”).

Before long, Albert and Mileva are hopelessly in love, and hopelessly distraught when she announces her pregnancy to a young scientist barely getting by on his third-class clerk wages.

Thus begins a story of love and loss, devotion and deception, and triumph and tragedy that may at times play loose with the facts and depend rather a bit on conjecture but more than makes up for it with its celebration of the scientific mind told in one catchy song after another backed by some of the most thrilling choreography in town.

Book writer-composer-lyricist Puckett scores top marks for an engaging storyline, melodies that will have you humming along inside your head, and plot-advancing, character-revealing words.

Rebel Genius reunites director Brian Kite and choreographer Dana Solimando, whose dream-teaming gave La Mirada Theatre For The Performing Arts some of its most brilliantly staged hits (American Idiot, Spring Awakening, and Miss Saigon among them) before Kite assumed the title of Theater Department Chair to UCLA TFT’s great credit and Ray Bolger students’ incalculable benefit.

Together, Kite and Solimando ensure one absolutely terrific performance after another, visually imaginative staging throughout, and exciting, invigorating choreography, much of it performed by breathtaking Celestial Bodies Justin Baker (Reporter 3), Marlena Becker (Reporter 4), Walker Brinskele, Katie Powers-Faulk (Doctor), Haleyann Hart, and Sophie Shapiro.

Leading lady James gives Mileva equal parts intelligence and charm, and just wait till her hell-hath-no-fury “Taking It Back” sets the stage aflame.

The impossibly tall, dark, and handsome James Olivas’s outrageously German-accented rockstar of a Max Planck may have nothing physically in common with the mousy Nobel Prize-winning theoretical physicist two decades Einstein’s senior but his “Max!” (rhymes with socks) proves the evening’s most hilarious show-stopper.

Polished featured gems are delivered by Sholotan as the most steadfast of best friends, Robinette as the creepiest of eugenics advocates (his “Racial Hygiene” will send chills down your spine), and Hoffman as a father whose love for his son ultimately proves unconditional.

Rhone-Collins is Temptation with a capital T (and a Beyonce-ready “Love You Baby” to set libidos aflame) and child performer Brendan Knox shows off boy-soprano power pipes in “Daddy Don’t.”

Elana Cantor (Saleslady), Carsa, Kato, Molly Livingston (Lenard), Nicolette Norgaard (Reporter 2, Nurse), Ariana Perlson (Princeton Professor) Caroline Pernick (Von Laue), and Michael Riskin (Reporter 1) deliver the goods in featured and cameo roles.

Still, this is leading man Wells’s star vehicle all the way, the graduating senior (who scarcely if ever leaves the stage) giving Albert a boy-next-door-with-edge appeal while emoting with uncompromising honesty and singing like a seasoned Broadway pro.

Musical director Dan Belzer and his live orchestra deliver expert backup, vocal director Jeremy Mann ensures finely-tuned harmonies, and sound designer Ryan Marsh provides a pitch-perfect mix.

Rebel Genius looks terrific on scenic designer Hakan Yoruk’s dramatic, angular, multilevel black set strikingly lit by Jeff Behm, and Marisa Melideo’s sleek modern costumes give the production 21st-century panache.

Jenna Wright is assistant choreographer. Kayla Stults is stage manager.

Last March, UCLA TFT’s Department of Theater took a problematic Broadway flop (Kander & Ebb’s Steel Pier) and turned it into the year’s best student-cast production.

Taking an even greater risk with an unproven original, UCLA TFT’s World Premiere Rebel Genius – A Love Story is a show no lover of exciting contemporary musical theater will want to miss.

Freud Playhouse, UCLA.
www.tft.ucla.edu

–Steven Stanley
March 12, 2019

Tags: Albert Einstein, Los Angeles Theater Review, Matthew Puckett, UCLA