Yonge Street Theatricals & Goodman Theatre/Life After, book, music and lyrics by Britta Johnson, choreographed by Ann Yee, directed by Annie Tippe, CAA Ed Mirvish Theatre, closes May 10. Tickets here.
Before getting into the review proper, I want to categorically state that Britta Johnson is a blazing talent, perhaps even a genius. Very few artists can successfully create the book, music and lyrics for a theatre piece, and Johnson is one of these precious few.
That being said, her affecting little musical, Life After, should never have been transformed into the behemoth Broadway style show that it has become.
I saw Life After at Berkeley Street Theatre in 2017, and I was profoundly moved. The story is intimate in scope, and supersizing the material just buries it amidst the Broadway glitz and glitter.
Out of fairness, however, a virgin audience, so to speak, might lap up the overweight Life After, and judging by the post-opening reaction, many have. This present incarnation has been well-reviewed in some quarters and has clearly attracted happy customers.
Alas, I’m not one of them.
The Story
The plot centres around 16-year-old Alice (Isabella Esler) and the grief she experiences after the accidental death of her father Frank Carter (Jake Epstein).
She is consumed with guilt because they had had a vicious argument before he left for a business trip — one of many, because Frank is a famous self-help guru who has invented the concept of Transformotion, and he is always on the road.
Frank had called Alice later on the day of the argument, and because she was angry, she didn’t answer. And now her father is dead.
Life After is about how Alice copes with the grief and the guilt. It also becomes a mystery that Alice has to solve. Her father’s plane was leaving at 8 p.m., yet his car crash was at 8:20 p.m. Why wasn’t he on the plane?
Alice is so wrapped up in her own thoughts that she is oblivious to the grief of her older sister Kate (Valeria Ceballas) and her mother Beth (Mariand Torres), and so tensions arise between them. Alice does get support from her friend Hannah (Julia Pulo), and her English teacher Ms Hopkins (Chilina Kennedy).
There are also the Furies who are other characters as needed, but predominantly thoughts in Alice’s mind; (Kaylee Harwood, Arinea Hermans, and Zoë O’Connor).
The Production
Johnson’s music is the star of the show.
Life After is a sing-through theatre piece which is far more difficult to compose than a collection of stand-alone songs. Her prodigious talent allows her to create tuneful music that embraces the mood or moment and wraps the characters in a cocoon of beautiful melodies.
As for Todd Rosenthal’s set, Serafina Bush’s costumes, and Japhy Weidman’s lighting, their designs are what you would expect in a big Broadway-style musical.
Thus, Life After is now identified by a huge set that is a cross section of the interior of a house, with a spiral staircase connecting the floors. There is also a rotating stage that reveals different rooms. The myriads of attractive costumes, especially for the Furies, reflect the world of today. The lighting is massive, meaning always in your face, because it is constantly changing and showing off special effects.
Ann Yee has provided the choreography that is really movement rather than dance per se, but it does animate the stage. Veteran director Annie Tippe has done a journeyman’s job moving her actors up, down, and all around the house in meaningful fashion.
The original single piano has now become a seven-piece musical ensemble with Johnson’s piano score ballooned out by Lynne Shankel’s lavish arrangements and orchestrations.
As for the performances, Life After is blessed by an uber talented cast of American and Canadian artists who are amazing actors/singers. They can really belt out a song. Particularly strong are Mariand Torres (Beth the mother) and Julia Pulo (Hannah the friend).
The Ending
Perhaps the most egregious aspect of this over-produced musical is that it goes beyond its natural ending.
In this expanded version, the end should come as the mother and daughters paint the wall of the father’s office. Alice has always been adamant that nothing of her father’s should be changed, but after hesitating, she joins them in the silence — her way of showing that she is ready to move on.
Then Kate begins to cry, the first overt sign of grief that we’ve seen. Throughout the show, characters have sung about their grief both with anger and sorrow, but now we have raw emotion.
Alice and Beth put their arms around Kate and each other. It is a beautiful and very affective moment as they collectively come together in their grief.
What follows seems like overkill. Yes, Alice, accompanied by the Furies, performs “Poetry”, the most lauded song from all versions of Life After.
Sadly, in this incarnation of the show, this scene has now become gratuitous. We know that Alice has come to terms with her guilt when she picks up the paintbrush.
Final Thoughts
Despite an excellent cast and a wonderful score, Life After, as it has now become, is a quintessential example that big is not always better.
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