Summary
This show is an abstract musical or song cycle, forgoing a traditional narrative for a series of self-contained stories. Each song captures a different character—from a Spanish sea captain in 1492 to a frustrated Mrs. Claus—at the single, pivotal moment of making a life-altering decision.
Sunday, September 21, 2025 at 7:30 PM Sep 21, 2025, 7:30 PM
This was an okay concert marred fairly significantly by sound issues, which was a bummer since I timed my trip for it. The Hammersmith Apollo is a general purpose venue with a significantly deeper back wall than is ideal for musical theater, I think, and I was probably seated too far forward relative to the position of the speakers. Lyrics were mostly unintelligible for me except in the solo songs, particularly those sung by Jordan Fisher, whose volume level was too low the entire way. I think the cast themselves had significant problems in their IEMs, too, as they were adjusting them throughout.
Nevertheless, the songs were pretty, the cast was terrific, and it was a delight to see composer Jason Robert Brown on the piano (and conducting). I hadn’t seen Shoshana Bean perform before and I was really impressed with the ease of her stage presence (not to mention that voice). Bean, Fisher, Joy Woods, and Tituss Burgess all have the ability to really belt, especially for one night only, and by the end of the show, they were having a lot of fun pushing each other to opt up on some already-big songs. Joyous thing to see. 🙂 I hope I get a chance to see this again soon so I can better appreciate the material.