Sharyn Scott (Photo by Isaac Berliner)
Reviewed by Madison Mellon
Eastwood Performing Arts Center
Through April 5
Adanza, developed by B Faire Music and Production, aims to blend music, dance and spectacle into a theatrical experience. The show takes a cue from musicals such as Pippin or Godspell, which utilize a troupe of performers to tell somewhat symbolic, moralistic stories. While those shows are held together by a consistent aesthetic and message, Adanza struggles to establish any clear through-line, leaving its story and point of view relatively inscrutable.
The piece begins as a love story between a young aspiring dancer (Bella Hamm) and a singer in a band (Alex Honorato), but this thread is soon abandoned. The story jumps 50 years into the future to follow the son of the young couple (Jilber Ferri) instead. His mundane job is disrupted when he wins a cruise, at which point the show unravels into a series of loosely connected musical and dance sequences inspired by different countries, including Spain, Japan, and France. This shift from an initially character-driven narrative to an abstract showcase of various performance styles makes it difficult to discern a unifying theme or intention.
The diversity of movement styles—ballet, contemporary, flamenco, breakdancing, and even circus elements like juggling and aerial hoop acrobatics—suggests an effort to celebrate a broad range of disciplines. The performers come from multiple countries and have experience in disciplines ranging from opera, drag performance, and roller skating. Rather than complementing each other, these styles often seem to compete for attention, which prevents the show from forming a cohesive artistic vision. An extended sequence of tricks with bubbles, for example, serves purely as a departure from the narrative as opposed to fulfilling any larger purpose.
The production design and music further contribute to the show’s inconsistency. The stage is largely bare, with only the occasional use of an aerial hoop and a few small props. The primary visual element is a large screen at the back of the stage displaying projections reminiscent of computer screensavers. Musically, the show incorporates both live and recorded elements, with a cellist (Jennifer Chun) providing some live instrumentals. However, rather than being a central component, the live music is frequently drowned out by backing tracks. Additionally, the young singer at the beginning of the show carries a guitar much of the time he’s on stage — but then sings without ever playing it. The first few songs do attempt to establish a narrative, but as the show shifts into its international pastiche, the use of music for storytelling is largely abandoned.
It’s admirable to bring together a diverse group of performers and showcase their unique skills, and Adanza might have been more effective had it fully embraced the format of a variety act. As it stands, both its intended purpose and target audience remains unclear. Writer/directors Brooke Ferri and Jilber Ferri claim that Adanza is “not your mother’s musical.” But in breaking from tradition, they fail to replace it with a structure strong enough to support the show’s many disparate elements.
Eastwood Performing Arts Center, 1089 N. Oxford Ave., Los Angeles. Fri. 7 p.m.; Sat. 3 p.m. & 7 PM; https://www.adanzamusical.com/ Running Time: 70 minutes with no intermission.
