The cliched but entertaining Paradise Square attempts an American version of epic melodramatic European tuners like Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera, and Aspects of Love. Set in the notorious Five Points neighborhood of Civil War-era Manhattan, the soapy book by Christina Anderson, Craig Lucas, and Larry Kirwin (three authors is always a bad sign) romanticizes poverty and crams in enough plot for several Netflix mini-series.
Without going into too much sudsy detail, the story centers on the title establishment, a lively dive where runaway slaves, free African-Americans, Irish immigrants, corrupt politicians and the famous songwriter Stephen Foster in disguise as a desperate drunk converge in a celebration of 21st century woke-ness as the draft riots rock the rest of the city. The Paradise Square denizens emerge scarred but unscathed in their diverse enlightenment.
The score by Jason Howland (music) and Nathan Tysen and Masi Asare (lyrics) is pleasant enough, incorporating some of Foster’s tunes orchestrated into modern styles, and Moises Kaufman’s staging proficiently keeps the seemingly endless action moving on Allen Moyer’s complex period set.
A highlight is the spectacular choreography by Bill T. Jones, Garret Coleman, and Jason Oremus. The latter two are credited with Irish and Hammerstep choreography. Jones presumably contributed the majority of the story-related numbers, each of which is filled with specific character-revealing movement. The Irish step dancing and the Hammerstep movement are equally enthralling. Not surprisingly, two of the most eye-catching cast members are in dance heavy roles—A.J. Shively and Sidney DuPont as a recent Irish arrival and a runaway competing for their share of the burgeoning American dream on the Paradise’s dance floor. When these two go head to head, sparks fly.
Even brighter than the dancers and the melodramatic material is Joaquina Kalukango in the lead role of Nelly O’Brien, the African-American owner of Paradise Square. She brings a fiery passion to a familiar character—a feisty, no-nonsense entrepreneur with a heart of gold. With soaring vocals and truthful limning, she almost single-handedly transforms a sadly routine and overcrowded show into a honest depiction of social upheaval and the struggle for inclusion in a changing America.
