As the curtain rose at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre last night, I wasn’t quite sure what I was about to witness. Broadway’s newest musical Paradise Square tells the exuberant story of the supposed birth of dancing, taking place at a bar in the Five Points of lower Manhattan in 1863.
The titular bar, Paradise Square, is run by Nelly O’Brien (Joaquina Kalukango), and it is quickly revealed that her husband is Irish soon-to-be-soldier, Willy O’Brien (Matt Bogart). We meet Nelly’s family in a lively opening number where she tells the story of the Five Points and how they all ended up there. Running the bar with Nelly, we meet her sister-in-law, the exuberant Annie Lewis (Chilina Kennedy), and her husband, the gentle hearted Reverend, Samuel Jacob (Nathaniel Stampley). Though Nelly describes the area around the bar as a slum with crumbling streets and danger outside the door, the inside of the bar is anything but, and audiences are drawn in from the moment we are introduced to the story.
Though they don’t know it quite yet, the Paradise Square family will only grow as the opening act goes on. It’s impossible to keep your eyes off of AJ Shively’s Owen Duignan and Sidney DuPont’s Washington Henry. When the curtain rises, Duignan is a young man who has just walked off the boat from Ireland and into the arms of Annie, his loving aunt. Henry is a runaway slave who has just arrived in the Five Points after being promised shelter from Reverend Samuel. Upon arrival, the two men learn that they have been promised the same room, which prompts the two to compete for the space by dancing. Though that concept seems a bit tired and out of place for a show like this, Shively and DuPont make up for it immediately with an effervescent display of tap dancing. Shively displays a character going through so many rapid emotional changes, and takes on the story of Owen so beautifully, and DuPont delivers a stunning emotional portrait of a man who has been separated from the love of his life and will do anything to reunite with her.
What truly makes this show isn’t the vivacious dancing, the beautifully crafted set, or the exquisite costume choices — it’s simply the cast itself. A performance like this would not hit home the way that it did if it weren’t for a cast who had the ability to exude such a strong sense of family with each other, while also conveying the depth of fear, hurt, pride, heartache and triumph that these incredibly layered characters house. The emotion of this show rapidly changes, sending the audience on a journey of so many different feelings, with the cast bringing this journey about.
I could not possibly say enough good things about Joaquina Kalukango. From the moment she walked onto the stage, she delivered an astonishing performance that carried the versatility of a woman going through so many emotions as the world she once knew so well rapidly changes in front of her eyes, taking many turns for the worst as she tries to stay afloat. And stay afloat Nelly does, albeit occasionally breaking down, and Kalukango nails every side of Nelly. Her chemistry with Bogart is unmatched, with the two of them absolutely shining in their performance of Since The Day That I Met You, which tells the emotional story of their meeting through a letter that Willie had written to her from war. Multiple songs that Nelly is in repeat the notion that there is “so much to loose in this cruel world,” an emotional sentiment to everything that was loved and lost in her life.
While the first act is generally quite lively, save for a fair share of heartache on Nelly and her family’s behalf, the show quickly and unexpectedly transitions to a darker light in the second act. This creates for a vivid contrast amidst the show itself, as things like musical numbers become a bit more scattered and a wide variety of genres come into play. Some might say this lack of organization is the show’s tragic flaw, but I believe that it’s a brilliant part of what makes this show so compelling. The concepts of the show are polarizing, which is one of the best things about it; it proves it to be three-dimensional, showing that there are so many different ways to look at it.
Had it not been for Kalukango’s performance of the song Let It Burn, I would say that it would be difficult to pinpoint a favorite scene from the show. However, this song, sung entirely by Nelly with the rest of the cast standing behind her in closeness and solidarity to protect each other and everything that they love, is nothing short of perfection. On her final note, the whole house was on their feet to give Kalukango a standing ovation. I felt that it was a strange creative choice to have Let it Burn be the second to last song, as the final number Finale: Paradise Square, proved to be disappointing. Nearly every song that the show held up until the finale was either vivacious, powerful, emotional, or all of the above, but the final number fell rather flat, and I feel that if the show had ended on its penultimate number, it would have been a better flow. Nevertheless, the performances of the cast made up for it.
Paradise Square is runnning at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre now! Get tickets here!
