Center Theatre Group celebrates diversity just in time for Pride Month with A Transparent Musical, an exhilarating but overlong adaptation of the hit TV series Transparent.

Like the Emmy-winning Amazon Prime dramedy on which it is based, A Transparent Musical (book by MJ Kaufman and Joey Soloway) focuses on the Pfeffermans, a Jewish-American family whose lives are upturned when Mort (Daya Curley) informs wife Shelly (Liz Larsen) and adult children Sarah (Sarah Stiles), Len (Robert Pieranunzi), and Ali (Adina Version) that she is transgender.

From this point on, A Transparent Musical focuses on Maura Pfefferman’s journey towards self-realization and her family’s towards acceptance.

Also figuring prominently in the musical’s multiple storylines are local JCC head Marv (Pat Towne), its diversity director Davina (Peppermint), recently arrived Rabbi Raquel (Murphy Taylor Smith), 20something volunteer Ezra (Kasper), Sarah’s husband Josh (Zachary Prince), and a host of others.

All of this adds up to a particularly large cast of main characters, each of them with their own story to tell, just one reason A Transparent Musical runs at least two hours and forty-five minutes.

Another is its jarringly tone-altering Act Two time-travel back to 1930s Berlin, a series of scenes and songs that, while adding meaning to Ali’s personal journey and providing an illuminating look at little-known chapter in LGBT history, could easily be cut in half and still get the message across.

What A Transparent Musical does have in its favor are its eclectic, tuneful, sensationally performed songs (music and lyrics by Faith Soloway), James Alsop’s electrifying choreography, and the fact that (unlike the TV series that inspired it), all trans and non-binary characters are played by trans and non-binary actors.

Not only that, but A Transparent Musical’s focus on trans and non-binary lives provides much needed representation for those in the audience who see their lives reflected on stage and an eye-opening theatrical experience for everyone else.

Under Tina Landau’s invigorating direction, Curley does powerful, authentic work as a trans woman coming into her true self later in life.

Prince is terrific as a sex addict dealing with a serious attraction to the new Rabbi (a lovely performance by Smith), Pieranunzi once again reveals triple-threat talents as a man whose marriage may be on the rocks, and the always excellent Towne excels in multiple roles.

Peppermint and Kasper deliver strong turns as Davina and Ezra, though their relationship is too peripheral to merit the amount of attention (and the song) they’re given in Act Two.

Best of all are Broadway great Larsen’s unstoppable dynamo of a Shelly, Stiles’ emotional powerhouse of a Sarah, and Verson’s commanding, engaging star turn as a young person only just coming into their own.

Add to this all-around sensational work by indefatigable multitaskers Jimmy Ray Bennett, Dahlia Glick, Emily Goglia, Samora la Perdida, Justin Rivers, Futaba Shioda, and you’ve got a couldn’t-be-better cast.

The same can be said about A Transparent Musical’s Broadway-caliber production design, in particular Adam Rigg’s gorgeously conceived and executed JCC set, one that yields multiple surprises along the way, Toni-Leslie James’ abundance of absolutely fabulous costumes, and Matthew Armentrout’s almost equal number of hair and wig design treats.

Jen Schriever’s lighting, Kai Harada’s sound design, and Yee Eun Nam’s projections are top-drawer as well, and music director-keyboardist Julie McBride conducts the show’s seven-piece orchestra to rock-tastic effect.

Casting is by The Telsey Company, Patrick Goodwin CSA, and Charlie Hano, CSA, with additional casting by Michael Donovan, CSA and Richie Ferris, CSA.

Alanna Darby, Ty-Gabriel Jones, and Jonathan Ritter are understudies. David S. Franklin is production stage manager.

Jessica Keasbury-Vnuk and Miriam Mendoza are stage managers.

With a significant Act Two trim, painful as it may be for the creative team to make, A Transparent Musical just might have Broadway in its future. If nothing else, it’s a musical whose time has come.

*Olivia Breidenthal, Johann Frank, Rusty Higgins, Lance Lee, Jennifer Leitham, McBride, and associate music director Noriko Olling

Mark Taper Forum, 35 N. Grand Avenue, Los Angeles.
www.centertheatregroup.org

–Steven Stanley
May 31, 2023
Photos: Craig Schwartz Photography

Tags: Center Theatre Group, Faith Soloway, Joey Soloway, Los Angeles Theater Review, Mark Taper Forum, MJ Kaufman