If you ask me…
– Tom Holehan
Two cheers at least for the Music Theatre of Connecticut which has opened their 40th season with the regional premiere of “Harmony”, a poignant Broadway musical featuring music by Barry Manilow with book and lyrics by Bruce Sussman. Following its brief 2023 Broadway run, which was decades in development, good for MTC for being one of the first to secure the rights to this challenging musical. It’s an excellent fit for the intimate theatre company.
“Harmony” tells the true story of the Comedian Harmonists, six young men (Jewish and gentile) who formed a legendary singing group in 1920s Germany, rising to international fame before eventually being silenced by the Nazi regime. The show is narrated in the present day by Rabbi (Frank Mastrone), the last surviving member of the Harmonists, who is played by Constantine Pappas (merely terrific) in the flashbacks that make up the bulk of the musical. Other members of the group, each blessed with a beautiful voice, include Michael Alonzo, Cameron Edris, Christian Libonati, Dominic Pagliaro and Jeff Rabb. There are only two significant women in the company, Jazmin Glorsline, who plays Mary, Rabbi’s Catholic wife and Michelle Pauker, memorable as Ruth, a fiery Jewish revolutionist who marries a gentile(Alonzo).
The MTC production, under Kevin Connors sensitive direction, has much to recommend it even if the show, itself, will remind you of far better musicals like “Cabaret”, “Fiddler on the Roof” and “Ragtime”. The score is a mature one for Manilow but often repetitive. The title song, while melodious, seems to be repeated 4 times in the first act alone. Glorsline has a rather bland ballad (“And What Do You See?”) but is redeemed with a dynamic duet she shares with Pauker (“Where You Go”) in act two. Musical director Zachary Anderson does a superb job getting the men to sound perfectly harmonious and all the actors deliver in spades time and time again.
Connors stages in the small space with admirable economy and Sean Sanford has provided a simple but effective scenic design. Choreographer Chris McNiff also deserves praise especially for his ingenious and tricky staging of the “Come To The Fatherland” number which has the singers as human marionettes in a satirical anti-Nazi song. I do fault the finale where Mastrone’s long monologue is delivered far too slowly with an overlay of maudlin excess. The story is sad enough without Mastrone, who otherwise is quite wonderful in the show, laying on the sentiment and crying for the audience. A more straight-forward approach would ultimately be even more devastating.
Still, many people will no doubt be moved by “Harmony” (there were noticeable tears in evidence at my performance). What with the fascist movement currently taking place in Germany, this chapter of largely forgotten history could not be timelier. Connors and company deserve significant praise.
“Harmony” continues at the Music Theatre of Connecticut, 509 Westport Avenue in Norwalk, Connecticut through September 27, 2026. For further information or ticket reservations call the theatre box office at 203.454.3883 or visit: www.musictheatreofct.com.
Tom Holehan is one of the founders of the Connecticut Critics Circle, a frequent contributor to WPKN Radio’s “State of the Arts” program and the Stratford Crier and Artistic Director of Stratford’s Square One Theatre Company. He welcomes comments at: tholehan@yahoo.com. His reviews and other theatre information can be found on the Connecticut Critics Circle website: www.ctcritics.org.
