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nytheatre.com review by Gyda Arber
Byzantium is an ambitious new musical, brought to us by Theatre Collide of Houston Texas. The show tells the true story of Justinian, the last great Roman emperor, and his wife, the actress Theodora, whose marriage caused quite a scandal due to their differences in class. The Nika revolt of AD532 provides the conflict for the story, creating a Les Miserables-like backdrop for the events on stage. Unfortunately the show never quite rises to its aspirations.The source of most of the problems of Byzantium is John Kaiser’s book, which tries to do too much, and therefore does little at all. I wasn’t sure if this was supposed to be a love story, a tale of moral and religious conflict, or a political statement, lampooning the current administration. All three themes are introduced and then quickly abandoned, leaving the audience at a loss. A stronger hand by director Cailin Heffernan might help to make the theme clearer.Even the most serious musicals I know (Phantom and Les Miz included!) incorporate humor, but there is a complete lack of comedy here, which is actually jarring for anyone familiar with the musical theatre genre (commonly referred to as musical comedy for a reason). The character development also requires the actors to take huge leaps and bounds, most notably in the character of Sophie (played by Danielle Huben), wife of one of Justianian’s advisors. She starts out as a shy virgin, in the next scene sings a sexy song about Theodora a la Jane Krakowski, then becomes a political schemer (because she loves her husband?), but quickly falls in love with a monk who supports Justinian. Poor Huban can do little to justify this character’s rapid change of heart.Steven Jamail’s music however, is everything the book is not. He deftly combines a melodic, contemporary musical theatre sound (more Webber than Sondheim) with Middle-Eastern themes that inform, but do not overwhelm, the music. Troy Scheid’s lyrics are serviceable, but mostly forgettable. The cast is almost uniformly excellent, many with Broadway credits. Standouts include Huben, Bram Heidinger, Mark Light-Orr, Janet Dacal, and Michael J. Ross. Unfortunately there is little they can do to solve the problems of Byzantium.Copyright © 2013 The New York Theatre Experience, Inc. All rights reserved.
