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Nonetheless, even in the event you 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 really 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 workforce led by Dean Sharenow and Marco Paguia — enhances that impact with preparations applicable to the brand new contexts and the intimate area 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 area between our bodies.
Ali’s staging, on a unit set by Arnulfo Maldonado that aptly suggests a number of the cramped areas wherein the story transpires, doesn’t but attain that stage. It’s too typically troublesome, with 17 solid members and 9 core musicians on the small and flatly lighted stage, to inform which location we’re in: studio, membership, resort, 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) provides 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 minimize 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 artistic guide.) In such moments — the hypnotic “Chan Chan,” the ear-wormy “El Cuarto de Tula,” the heartbroken “Veinte Años,” the beautiful “Drume Negrita” — you actually do really feel the previous harmonizing with the current. What Compay says is true: “Previous songs kick up outdated emotions.” Even, as within the showstopping and, sure, scorching “Candela,” with a flute.
Buena Vista Social Membership
Via Jan. 21 on the Atlantic Theater, Manhattan; atlantictheater.org. Working time: 2 hours.
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