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Nonetheless, even for those who don’t perceive their Spanish lyrics, the songs prevail. By no means compelled into literal service as signboards for the plot however as an alternative carried out atmospherically by characters who would truly sing them, they lend coherence and depth to the story with their beautiful harmonies, delirious polyrhythms and uncooked brass. The distinctive music manufacturing — the work of a group led by Dean Sharenow and Marco Paguia — enhances that impact with preparations acceptable to the brand new contexts and the intimate house of the Atlantic’s Linda Gross Theater. The blessedly live-sounding sound design is by Jonathan Deans.
And although I used to be much less impressed by a sequence of balletic duets for the younger sisters, which really feel labored, the fizzy membership dances are a delight. As choreographed by Patricia Delgado and Justin Peck, they match and heighten the music with intricate shut partnering as limbs discover ever extra intricate methods of closing the house between our bodies.
Ali’s staging, on a unit set by Arnulfo Maldonado that aptly suggests a few of the cramped areas during which the story transpires, doesn’t but attain that stage. It’s too typically tough, with 17 solid members and 9 core musicians on the small and flatly lighted stage, to inform which location we’re in: studio, membership, lodge, esplanade. Generally which period, too, although Dede Ayite’s taxonomy of caps and fedoras, high-waisted pants, flowy tunics and sock-hop skirts (to not point out showgirl kitsch) presents pleasant clues.
Cramped, too, is far of the motion between the songs, lending a busy feeling to materials that desires extra thoughtfulness or much less bulk. Seeming to acknowledge that, the present ends weirdly and abruptly, as if reduce off in mid-thought by a proctor’s stopwatch.
However when the staging, singing and enjoying come collectively, whether or not in exuberance or sorrow, I used to be fortunately reminded of one other musical about music that originated on the Atlantic: “The Band’s Go to.” (David Yazbek, that present’s songwriter, is credited right here as a inventive guide.) In such moments — the hypnotic “Chan Chan,” the ear-wormy “El Cuarto de Tula,” the heartbroken “Veinte Años,” the attractive “Drume Negrita” — you actually do really feel the previous harmonizing with the current. What Compay says is true: “Outdated songs kick up outdated emotions.” Even, as within the showstopping and, sure, scorching “Candela,” with a flute.
Buena Vista Social Membership
By means of Jan. 21 on the Atlantic Theater, Manhattan; atlantictheater.org. Operating time: 2 hours.
