Wolrd Premiere Cast – 2016 /
Music by Greg Borowsky & Douglas Lyons and lyrics by Douglas Lyons
Starring: Alex Newell, Shanice Williams, John Arthur
Greene, Lilli Cooper, Katie Thompson, Alysha Deslorieux Talia Thiesfield,
Gerard Canonico, Brittney Johnson, Julie Knitel, Sara King
Rate: 5 (from 1 to 10)
Review: This new musical is inspired by “the true
events the Civil Rights pioneers Ruby Bridges and The Little Rock Nine”.
According to the press release notes, it “follows 8-year-old Lily Polkadot
who just moved to the “Squares Only” small town of Rockaway. As the first
Polkadot in an all Square school, Lily faces an almost impossible task of
gaining acceptance from her peers. From daily bullying, to segregated drinking
fountains, Lily’s quest seems hopeless until she meets Sky, a shy Square boy
whose curiosity for her unique polkadot skin blooms into an unexpected
pal-ship. Polkadots serves as a colorful history lesson for children,
reminding them that our differences make us awesome, not outcasts.”
As for the music, it reminds
me of GLEE. The songs have the sound I associate with that television series
and fans of it will surely love this new musical. As for me, I’m not a big fan
of pop tunes, so I confess this one isn’t really for me.
One of the best songs, “Sticks
and Stones”, could easily been part of a Motown recording and it’s sung with
gusto by Alex Newell, who was part of the GLEE cast. Shanice Williams, the
Dorothy of the recent television production of THE WIZ, beautifully delivers “One
Pal”, a kind of Alan Menken emotional song. “Beautiful” is well sung by John
Arthur Green of AMERICAN IDOL season 15, Lili Cooper has a good time with “Cool
Kid” and so does Katie Thompson & Alysha Deslorieux with “The First”. I don’t
like the rap “The Squadot”, but it’s very rare for me to like a rap song. There’s
two bonus tracks, the beautiful “Taught” sung by Katie Thompson and a kind of
Motown Christmas number, “Polkadot Christmas”, sung by Brittney Johnson.
Although this is hardly my
kind of musical score, I prefer the traditional Broadway sound, it doesn’t hurt
my ears and as pop musicals go, this one has melody and more than a couple of
enjoyable songs.
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