Saturday night was the world premiere of Some Lovers, a Christmas musical of former lovers visited by the ghosts of their former selves of Christmas past. With music by Burt Bacharach and book and lyrics by Steven Sater, this lovers twist on Dickin's Christmas Carol appeared too good to fail. Unfortunately the ingenuity ended at the premise.
Some Lovers begins with ex lovers Molly and Ben living their lives in New York. It's Christmas--their holiday--and Molly is moving out of the city in a few weeks. As they talk and hang up and miss each other and hate each other all over again, their former selves appear to remind them of how they fell in love in the first place.
Well, you don't quite believe that they loved each other in the first place, and the play suffers from there.
Young Molly is played by Jenni Barber with the sensuality and charm of Amanda Segfried, who suffers from lack of little chemistry with Young Ben, played in earnest of Andrew Mueller, who comes across as too nerdy for anyone to date, let alone Molly. Their relationship begins with the music he writes about her, but as he gets deeper into the industry as he tries to find his latest hit, she gets tired of constantly coming in second in his life. Despite this being a musical, the musician-trying-to-make-it theme is the nail in the coffin for Some Lovers.
There are a million legitimate reasons why relationships begin; there are a million legitimate reasons why they end, but picking the unrealistic cliche of the hot girl and nerdy guy, and him trying to break into the music industry pre-iTunes and her working at a photo development shop all comes across as out-of-touch instead of nostalgic. And this is a real misfortune considering it's a brand new play coming out in 2011.
This musical had the chance to be both timeless and timely. This being 2011 when the economy is falling apart and more and more young people are either unemployed or surrendering their dreams just to make rent, why not have a play based on a realistic happy couple young, young shiny and bright, who fall in love based on dreams, and break up with the pressures of their dreams don't come true? Ben could still be a musicain but instead of fights based on his muse being another girl or him leaving early to write his songs (which few can relate to), why not real problems like how their going to make rent on a musician's salary? How does she feel about working at the same family store after college as she did in college? What happens when a couple isn't so young, shiny, and bright anymore?Young Molly and Young Ben talk about this every Christmas. Each year they read "The Gift of the Magi", the story of sacrifice on Christmas, and wonder if the couple ever got fat and old and what happens then?.
The answer: sometimes it gets better and sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes couples drift apart and become other people with new stresses and obligations, and it's ok that it doesn't work out. And sometimes couples can grow together and the 'fat' and the 'old' are comes with life and love. Some Lovers is a musical for those who have loved and lost and want to vicariously experience a happy ending with the one who got away.
I must give credit to San Diego's Old Globe for performing a musical in the Sheryl & Harvey White Theatre. It's quite honestly the best playhouse I've ever been to, with it's circular design and 100 person maximum. Plays performed there (like Spring's Death of a Salesman) come across as s intimate and honest--hardly the standard fair for a musical, and I truly believe that Some Lovers would have benefited from not becoming a musical in the first place.
I can only think that music was used to break up the tension of breakups, but trust me, being 22 in a shitty apartment with a battery-powered keyboard is hilarious with enough love and booze. Stupid fights and breakups can also have their moments of funny to go with the pain. And two people in their 40s missing each other and cringing and missing their former selves is ripe for jokes. For what's it's worth, I did enjoy "Love Me For An Hour", a sexy song about Christmas and falling in love, and any songs with the whole cast performing, such as "Window Shoppin' and Dreamin' Dreamins" were a real delight to hear them young and old singing the same song.
Some Lovers shouldn't be given up on, and I hope that revisions are in the future. Ben and Molly are done well with Jason Danieley and Michelle Duffy at the helm, and the songs are appropriately flirty and serious. With the premise of the ghosts of former selves reminding them of a love that may not be all lost, this musical deserves the chance to shine as the kind of love story only Christmas itself can give.
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