Summer: The Donna Summer Musical at Baltimore’s Hippodrome Theatre

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New Year’s Eve 1948 marked the birth of LaDonna Adrian Gaines, who would go on to become Donna Summer, the Queen of Disco, a title she initially refused to embrace, wanting to show the world she was more than the voice behind Giorgio Moroder’s ‘I Feel Love’. And she did it on a rollercoaster of a life of highs and lows that sadly came to an end too soon on May 17, 2012 after a battle with lung cancer. But her legacy lives on thanks to her music and a Broadway show that is now touring the country.

Summer: The Donna Summer Musical ran on Broadway, opening on April 23, 2018, for 289 performances. The show tells a sort of Reader’s Digest version of Donna’s life in a non-linear fashion, jumping back and forth through the timeline of her life to show us the key moments. The show starts with the production of the song that made Donna a star, ‘I Feel Love’, then moves back in time to her pre-teen years in Boston as a girl who has been chosen to sing in church (and later we learn a much darker side to that story), and a young woman cutting school to go on auditions — in New York City. After dropping out of high school, Donna succeeded in getting a role in the musical Hair … in Germany, where she met Moroder and Pete Bellotte who produced ‘I Feel Love’, and Helmuth Sommer whom she married and had a daughter with. But now using the last name of Summer, Donna’s career was taking off and she was forced to make some tough decisions, including divorcing Sommer and leaving baby Mimi with her parents. From there, Donna’s life was filled with highs, lows, drugs, tragedy, controversy and great love, not only from her family but from fans from around the world.

Summer: The Donna Summer Musical is a fitting, if incomplete, tribute to the artist and the woman, a jukebox musical which, instead of charting the course of her musical career, uses her music to punctuate some key moments of her life, notably ‘No More Tears (Enough is Enough)’ which is used to illustrate the end of her abusive relationship with a German man named Gunther who followed her to Los Angeles. There is no mention of Barbra Streisand as part of that original duet. The show also suggests Summer went to some extreme lengths to record ‘Love to Love You Baby’ (although when asked in real life she claimed she just touched her knee). The show also seems to fudge Summer’s relationship with Bruce Sudano, who eventually became her last husband. In the scene, Donna wants to keep recording even though they are ahead of schedule and the next song is the duet ‘Heaven Knows’, and her partner isn’t in the studio. One of the musician, Sudano, offers to sing with her until the actual artist (whom is only referred to as ‘Bean’ in the show, but is Brooklyn Dreams singer Joe Esposito) arrives, and even though Sudano is in a relationship, the pair keep meeting and eventually marry (Sudano was part of Brooklyn Dreams and had been writing with Summer and the band for some time). So we have to consider the moments of Donna Summer’s life in the show as factual, but not quite as the show presents them.

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But none of that really matters because the show has four stars: the music of Donna Summer, and the three actresses who portray her over the course of her life. We first meet Diva Donna (Brittny Smith, who also plays Donna’s mother Mary), the oldest of the three, the one who really serves as the show’s narrator as she looks back on the pivotal moments of her life. Amahri Edwards-Jones plays Duckling Donna (at about age 11) as well as Donna’s oldest daughter Mimi. Charis Gullage plays Disco Donna for the bulk of the show. All three women are insanely talented, each of them bringing Donna to life with their voices but never imitating her. Edwards-Jones really blows the roof off the joint with the song ‘On My Honor’, while Smith kickstarts the show with ‘I Feel Love’. Gullage gets to perform Summer’s most well-known songs from ‘Love to Love You Baby’ to ‘Dim All the Lights’. All three ladies are remarkable and even get to sing together several times throughout the show (‘No More Tears’, ‘She Works Hard for the Money’, ‘Last Dance’). At one point in the show, Donna is at a very low point, about to do something drastic in a hotel room. A woman from Housekeeping gets to her in time and says that when Donna sings she goes blind, from the tears generated by her music. The same thing almost happened to me during the rousing ‘MacArthur Park’ number with all three Donnas, bringing tears to my eyes and fogging up my glasses (and there are a few more tearful moments to come). All three performers bring Summer to life beautifully regardless of the show’s other shortcomings (and help keep my rating at a three-star level). And if you’re wondering, yes the controversy over Summer’s alleged anti-gay remarks is addressed, if ever so briefly.

The production itself is a little on the cheesy side. There are no real sets, just set pieces like furniture rolled on and off stage and lighted panels that are moved around the stage. The backdrop consists of either a black curtain or a video screen with some often cringe-worthy graphics (like the a bit too on the nose clip art dollar bills raining down during ‘She Works Hard for the Money’). From my up close vantage point, some of the wigs were also a bit Party City-ish, and I was confused as to why some of the female ensemble were playing male characters, especially Pete Bellotte. I did enjoy Robert Ayala’s performance as Moroder, and John Guaragna was also very good as Sudano. In fact, everyone on that stage gave it their all, so you have to look past some of the questionable production choices. The show has some good lighting design, and hopefully some of the sound issues experienced at our performance were just opening night glitches. My biggest issue was the orchestra, which just did not come through as loudly and powerfully as it should have, and the way the volume was raised and lowered during moments when a song is interrupted by dialogue was a little distracting. I actually wasn’t even sure there was a real orchestra in the pit until the curtain call (unfortunately, some of the orchestration doesn’t completely live up to the original music, sometimes sounding a bit karaoke-ish).

But, even though I’m pointing all that out because I have to give you an honest account of my experience, none of it really matters in the end. Summer: The Donna Summer Musical is purely a celebration of the woman, the artist and her music, and the three leads elevate the show above any of its flaws. I’d definitely see it again.

Summer: The Donna Summer Musical runs about 1 hour and 40 minutes with no intermission. Recommended for ages 12 and up. The show uses flashing strobe lights, theatrical haze, and fog.

Summer: The Donna Summer Musical runs through February 20 at Baltimore’s Hippodrome Theatre. Other cities on the schedule include Detroit, MI; Nashville, TN; Worcester, MA; Knoxville, TV; Austin, TX; Wilmington, NC and more. Visit the official Summer: The Donna Summer Musical website for more information.