The Cher Show :: Diva city

Joan Marcus

I should have been at the very first performance of The Cher Show. I am that guy, I am that gay. Cher has been my pop diva since I’m 10 years old and watching The Sonny and Cher Show and listening to ‘Dark Lady’, ‘Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves’ & ‘Half Breed’ on the radio. My high school years were rife with every single Cher record album and my Mother nearly went out of her mind when I played the ‘Take Me Home’ record every day for a year when I was 16. I am one of those men, one of the Cher Boyz.

So why wasn’t I at the first preview of The Cher Show? Why wasn’t I at opening night? Why did it take me seven months to see this Broadway musical?

Donna Summer.

Much like Cher, Donna Summer was one of my divas. Not quite as big as Cher, but big, and to this day. When the marquee for Summer went up I photo’d it and Instagrammed it and made a plan to be at the first preview. But life got in the way and before you know it I had heard from everyone in town that the play was dreadful, terrible news for me, particularly when it came from my friend who actually knew the Late Great Queen of Disco. So I put the play Summer on the back burner until their closing week and went to see it. And when I did I was very glad that I did. Not because it was good, because it wasn’t. I was glad to see it because it promoted Donna Summer and kept her alive, because the audiences there were singing and dancing along, because even in the smallest sub-standard way it paid tribute to an artist I loved.

What if this other show telling the story of my REAL DIVA, the BIG one, was as lacklustre as Summer? When my husband and I left Summer, I asked him what he thought of the play and he replied ‘That wasn’t a play, it was a Learning Annex class; I expected them to hand out a quiz afterward.’ What if The Cher Show was another oral dissertation on a Pop Diva? It should break my heart. Even with these concerns, though, I knew I would go to see The Cher Show at some point. I knew this because of Cher and because of Stephanie J. Block. Okay, and because of Bob Mackie. Oh … and because of Jarrod Spector’s naked torso. Let’s not be coy about it, the word is out: Jarrod Spector may be playing Sonny Bono but he doesn’t LOOK like Sonny Bono in his shirtless scenes. That reached my ears before the play even had its official premiere on Broadway. And while we are on the topic of shirtless men, there is the matter of ensembler Charlie Williams, my all-time favorite Broadway Boy Dancer and an avid Instagram influencer. So here we have all the reasons why I knew I would attend The Cher Show, the music, the men and the Mackie.

But first and foremost, there is Stephanie J. Block.

Joan Marcus

Miss Block is a bona fide Broadway star who has turned in one exceptional performance after another since her debut in The Boy From Oz in 2003. I’ve been lucky in that I’ve seen almost every one of these performances (I missed The Pirate Queen due to the brevity of its run). She is twice Tony Award nominated and since The Cher Show opened I keep hearing the phrase ‘career performance’, which is not especially surprising to me. So I decided to get myself a ticket to the very first performance after the Tony Award nominations come out. I wanted to see that adrenaline and joy all over that stage. That was the performance that’s been waiting for me.

In this decision, I was completely and totally right.

Before the play even started I was giggling like a schoolgirl, maybe 7th grade, maybe 5th, and the anticipation grew even more abandoned as the lights dimmed and the play started. I don’t think there was a moment during the entire evening when the smile left my face. Of course there were points in time when the smile translated to a giggle, a laugh, a teary-eyed grin; the point is that I left The Cher Show happy, elated, delirious with joy. It should not surprise me if this was the reaction of many audience members these last six months, since a large share of the audience was people my age (55) and up (there were a LOT of senior citizens chair dancing, clapping along, swaying, grinning and cheering). It is sort of impossible NOT to do these things at The Cher Show, that’s how much love is up on the stage. Love between the characters, love between the actors, love from the creators for their titular character and inspiration, love from the audience for all involved. Love for the music. It’s a love fest over at the Neil Simon Theatre and love is something we really need these days.

The Jukebox Musical is here to stay. It’s not going anywhere, kids, so let’s all get used to it. But there are two types of Jukebox Musical: there is the one that shoehorns songs by a particular artist into a fictional story, and there is the one that tells the biography of an artist, using their songs within the framework of the play to tell the story. There are those who despise the genre, many who deride, lots who wish it would just go away. Why should this be necessary? For years people have taken a composer’s catalog and created a new body of work. There’s the revue (see Ain’t Misbehavin’, Perfectly Frank and Sophisticated Ladies, which showcase composers Fats Waller, Frank Loesser and Duke Ellington). There’s the book musical (see All Shook Up, which used the songs of Elvis, Head Over Heels, showcasing the music of The Go Go’s, and the record breaking Mamma Mia!, based on the creative work of ABBA); but there are also ‘new musicals’ My One and Only and Nice Work if You Can Get It which employ previous works by the Gershwins. There have even been book plays that have featured a second act that was a recreation of a concert by the artist (Marlene, which showed Sian Phillips as Dietrich and End of the Rainbow, in which Tracy Bennett reenacted Judy Garland’s concert performance). We have been watching compilation musicals for a really long time, and the Biography musical is the latest trend and the most popular of all time. Why? Because these musicals have a built in audience. It’s a monetary sure thing. People who love(d) that artist will come to the theatre and revel in seeing their idol recreated. During Summer people danced in their rows, drinking their alcoholic beverages as though they were at a concert; indeed, someone even yelled at La Chanze ‘We love you, Donna!’ Audiences don’t care about the degree of quality at these biographical Jukebox Musicals. Only elitist, impossible to please members of the theatrical community will turn their noses up at these shows, as was the case with Escape to Margaritaville, a Jimmy Buffett book musical of insipid and uninspired quality that was derided by the show business community but kept alive by droves of Buffett fans. In spite of the low quality of the books for Summer and Escape to Margaritaville, the former ran for nine months and the latter for three and a half. Built in audience syndrome.

Here’s the thing about biographical musicals. Not every person has a life that is interesting enough to tell, and when the author tells that story it is up to them to make it interesting. The Tony Award winning Jersey Boys is probably the most successful at this, as it has an abstract way of presenting an interesting real-life story, utilizing all four of the band members to narrate the story. Beautiful: The Carole King Musical uses a completely traditional and linear structure to tell a story that, when examined, isn’t as interesting as the beloved central character is. Summer hits the double whammy in that as brilliant an artist as Donna Summer was, her life story is not that interesting and the writers of that musical did absolutely nothing to make it interesting. So when I heard that The Cher Show was going to use the same device as Summer, namely three different actresses playing the protagonist, I was worried. I need not have been worried because Rick Elice went the right way with this script. In the telling of this story it is essential that Cher speaks to the audience. We all know Cher. She is more than just a singer or an actress, she is a person whom we have seen on television all our lives, as herself. She had two variety shows, she has done talk shows, she did commercials, infomercials and concerts broadcast as TV specials. We know how she talks, we know her persona, her attitude, her playfulness, her passion. We want Cher to talk to us. It makes the evening special, particularly when she is funny or naughty. Throughout the evening the Cher billed as STAR talks to us a lot. She also talks to the characters in the scenes with her. And she talks to herself. It all works. At least, it all worked for me.

Joan Marcus

I am obsessed with the passage of time and personal evolution. I meditate, regularly, on my past selves, past choices, past experiences. This is the root of my obsession with plays like Nine or movies like Disney’s The Kid, in which adult people communicate with their younger selves in an effort to become whole. For me, watching Star relate to Babe (the youngest version of Cher) and Lady (the young woman Cher) is fascinating, entertaining and even a bit cathartic. It is a device that works for this particular play, as it doesn’t just help to further the plot, it gives audiences an opportunity to witness the thought processes and unspoken feelings of the titular character, without having that character just lecture to us from the stage, which can get rather boring. At no time did this play feel like a Cher dissertation, indeed, it felt like a variety show, which I suspect was the authors’ intent. The other thing Mr. Elice did was carefully craft the placement of the famous Cher songs so that they fit into the story of her life in a cohesive way; and I don’t know whether arranger Daryl Waters or musical director Andrew Resnick decided the tempos of songs that are being non-traditionally performed is responsible for the effectiveness of the changes, but their artistic choices are spot on. Change approved!

In fact, I would give kudos to the entire creative team. This can’t be an easy job, taking one of the most famous and flamboyant women in the world and turning their life story into a Broadway play without it descending into a cruise ship or amusement park entertainment, but they did it. I wasn’t bored, I wasn’t critical, I wasn’t offended. Jason Moore’s direction was solid, straightforward and at pace. Christopher Gattelli’s choreography was exciting and sexy and at times death defying – the ‘Dark Lady’ sequence might be the sexiest number I’ve ever seen on Broadway. The sets by Christine Jones & Brett J. Banakis, the lighting by Kevin Adams, video/projection design by Darrel Maloney and wigs by Charles G. LaPointe are all wonderful. I am especially happy with the sound design by Nevin Steinberg because this was a rare occasion when this hearing impaired theatre-goer was able to take off his assistive listening device, thank you very much.

If I’m being brutally honest, though, nothing in the area of technical design thrilled me as much as Bob Mackie’s costume plot. The nearly 700 costumes I saw on display at the Neil Simon Theatre had me bouncing in my seat, clapping my hands and laughing like that little girl in the famous video of Sandy Duncan taking flight in Peter Pan. Bob Mackie has been this gay man’s clothing idol for over four decades. I can think of nobody whose clothing design has meant more to me, maybe Chanel, but probably not. I love this man and this man’s work so much that when the Mackie Fashion Show number dropped I could barely be contained. I thought my husband was going to have to physically restrain me, I was so excited. It was a drop in a bountiful bucket of happiness in one trip to the theatre.

A big part of filling up the happiness bucket for me, at any show, is the dance corps. The ensemble of a musical is the shoulders upon which the entire performance rests and this might be my favorite ensemble of all time. Is it because of Cher? Maybe. Is it because of Bob Mackie? Possibly. Or is it because they are all, women and men alike, heart-stoppingly talented and breathtakingly beautiful? I think that’s the one. When they appear on stage it is difficult deciding where to look, they are all so amazing; and when the men throw Ashley Blair Fitzgerald up and down and all around during ‘Dark Lady’, the audience was gasping – the same way they gasped during the Mackie Fashion Show number when Taurean Everett appeared in less clothing than the women … I was surprised the audience did not burst into applause. And I have to say, just once, that the only person who could ever get me to take my eyes off of Stephanie J. Block performing as Cher is Charlie Williams. Have Mercy. ‘Nuff said.

The Cher Show has an ensemble of musical theatre actors that should make a Broadway habitué salivate. Aside from being stunningly fit, Jarrod Spector is a wonderful stage actor who delivers Sonny Bono vocals that are so perfect that audience members were laughing the laughter of disbelief. It is a perfectly lovely and fully realized performance he is giving, portraying a role that is rather a villain but also incredibly likable. Actors Matthew Hydzik and Michael Campayno may not have a lot of stage time as Gregg Allman and Rob Camilletti but it’s enough to get a feel for their substantial acting talents. Michael Fatica is thoroughly delightful and hilarious playing four different roles in the show and it is clear why he was hired, he is just that good. For me, though, the big thrill in the acting ensemble came in the form of Emily Skinner, who plays Georgia Holt, and Michael Berresse, standing out as Bob Mackie. Miss Skinner and Mr. Berresse are kind of legendary to me – staples of the Broadway community, delivering expert performances through the years and, irritatingly, growing more gorgeous and young as the rest of us age. It would be very easy to be cross with them for looking exactly the same as they did the first time I saw each of them in the early 90s, were their ever compounding wealth of talent so winsome and enjoyable.

And speaking of talent.

Joan Marcus

Teal Wicks, so lovely in Finding Neverland and Jekyll & Hyde, is the Cher called Lady, while Broadway neophyte Micaela Diamond plays the Cher called Babe. These two craftswomen delivery lovely, committed, sassy and touching performances as the younger versions of Cher, creating a palpable bond between the trinity blessed by the presence of Miss Block. This is no fictional character created by a writer, a role into which an actor insinuates their own backstory – this is a real person who is larger than life that they are portraying. It would be incredibly easy for the performances to become camp and none of these actresses allow that to happen. Each of them presents a real, pretentious-free, relatable version of Cher. Mind you, the legend herself is a producer on the show so one must assume those performances are informed by one-on-one conversations with the Academy Award recipient herself. I found myself drawn to each of the Chers, noting extreme in vocals from Miss Wicks and most effortless high kicks I may have ever seen from Miss Diamond. Still, as much as I enjoyed these two ladies’ work, I cannot deny that my cup runneth over every time Stephanie J. Block walked on stage.

It is a special thing to watch an artist come into their own. It is also a special thing to see an artist come out of the gate with everything they need. I’ve been told by friends who attended Yale that the professors who taught her say Meryl Streep walked into class the first day with all that she needed in her career, all that she used after leaving there. I saw Stephanie J. Block in Boy From Oz and it was clear, then, that the same was true of her. Seeing her as Elphaba cemented what was obvious, but her role in 9 to 5, while charming, provided less efficacy for her star power. Anything Goes followed by Drood, Little Miss Sunshine and, finally, Falsettos gave Miss Block the growing platform upon which to showcase the talents she possessed, right out of the gate (remember, I missed The Pirate Queen). So we theatre-goers have had the rare opportunity to see both an artist start their career as a star, and an artist build their way up to their stardom. That is what is happening at The Cher Show. It is, as I have been told, a career performance because the audience gets to see a star named Stephanie J. Block, and they get to see a legend named Cher. They are three, like the actresses playing Cher on stage. There is Stephanie, there is Cher and there is Cherphanie. At times I was no longer able to discern who was who in the play. This isn’t an actress playing make believe Cher, Stephanie Block is becoming Cher eight times a week and it’s astounding. I ain’t talkin’ ‘bout no drag queen, honey, this is an accessible person you can cheer for, feel for and cry for – and I did cry, too, authentic tears from being in the story and feeling what Miss Block was representing. Then the tears turned to smiles again, and we the audience were dancing in the aisles. I know that I and a lot of other people who walk out into 52nd Street after these performances owe her and all involved with The Cher Show a debt of gratitude, for the happiness we feel, and happiness is not overrated.

Is it Shakespeare? No. But I don’t need Shakespeare, I need happiness. So, no, it’s not Shakespeare.

It’s Cher, bitches.

The Cher Show runs about [2 Hours Twenty Minutes with one intermission.

The Cher Show has been nominated for three Tony Awards including Best Leading Actress in a Musical.

The Cher Show