There are a few checklist items every new musical theater production must address. Some are easily quantifiable, others are show business mysteries.
For example, Broadway musicals typically feature 20+ songs. That’s not a rule of course, but it is an expectation. It’s what separates a play that may include a tune or two from the full-on musical an audience expects for their theater district ticket price.
Another music-related expectation involves whether or not there is a show-stopping “eleven o’clock number,” where a major character has a revelation or where there’s a turning point in the narrative.
Other checklist items involve the book of the show. Is the musical’s setting interesting, are the characters believable (or at least entertaining), is there both humor and drama, and will the main character’s story arc engage an audience?
But even after a production’s checklist is complete, it’s unknown whether the resulting show will “land” with an audience. It’s truly a mystery why some shows make a lasting impression and others do not. Sometimes a stand-out cast can make a reasonably good musical a hit, sometimes it’s simply the subject matter or a couple of hit numbers.
Which brings us to Billy Larkin and Ron Boustead’s Flashes of Light: A New Musical, directed by Jon Lawrence Rivera and now premiering at the intimate Sierra Madre Playhouse.
From a checklist perspective, a musical about inventor Nikola Tesla would seem like a sure thing. It’s a compelling story about a sickly Serbian immigrant genius who successfully battled, of all people, Thomas Alva Edison to win the hugely lucrative “war of the currents” for Westinghouse. Tesla was a man who befriended legendary author Samuel Clemens (known to readers as Mark Twain), and who, according to the show, was directly inspired by the Greek goddess Electra.
I mean come on! That’s a musical theater hero’s journey for the ages.
Except when it’s not.
In fact, the historical Tesla was a chronic insomniac germaphobe, plagued with severe obsessive-compulsive disorder, who died penniless. Yes, Tesla obtained nearly 300 patents for all manner of creative electrical devices, but he was also an eccentric who struggled with serious mental illness.
Writing a musical about people who find it difficult to connect with others isn’t a new concept. A fairly recent example is How to Dance in Ohio, a 2023 Broadway show with music by Jacob Yandura and book and lyrics by Rebekah Greer Melocik. The production was based upon a 2015 HBO documentary, and encountered some of the same issues as Flashes of Light.
And what are those issues?
No, I’m not talking about the Sierra Madre show’s numerous missed microphone cues (those will work themselves out), lack of a chorus and big dance numbers (understandable in an equity-waiver 99-seat theater), or the over-stuffed exposition in the first act (they could have done more with much less).
The primary issue is that both Flashes and How to Dance have too many songs that don’t land, mainly because both shows try to pack-in story progress at the expense of emotion…which the main character, in general, lacks.
Here’s an example. In Flashes, the only character who consistently displays deep emotion is Katherine (played by the excellent Lauren Lorati). Neither Tesla (Thomas Winter) nor Electra (Devyn Rush) bring actual passion to the production until the the musical number “Falling,” which is the second to last number of the show.
Both leads are excellent actors, but they are not given much to work with from a character perspective. They are frequently tasked with coming and going and being self centered rather than portraying fully realized individuals with feelings.
Now, that’s not to say there isn’t some fabulous acting and singing going on throughout the musical. Standouts include Tesla’s assistant Szigeti (an ever-watchable Christopher Romero Sosa, who in many ways acts as the audience’s on-stage proxy), Dionysus (a perfectly cast Amir Levi, who has all kinds of fun with the role) and Prometheus (Patrick Munoz, with a great line about the invention of fire).
The eleven o’clock number titled “Matters of the Heart” is performed by Athena (a soulful Nina Kasuya).
Musicals are incredibly difficult to write. Just ask someone like New York musical theater composer Ryan Scott Oliver, who grew up within blocks of the Sierra Madre Playhouse.
The bottom line is Flashes of Light represents an exceptional opportunity to see a talented, diverse cast in a new musical that’s having its world premiere in a nearby theater with free parking.
You don’t have to be a “stable genius” to understand how rare that is.
Deets
- Flashes of Light
- Sierra Madre Playhouse, 87 W. Sierra Madre Blvd., Sierra Madre
- Schedule and tickets are available at the Sierra Madre Playhouse Web site or by calling the box office at (626) 355-4318
