Review: Music City Returns, Better Than Ever

What lines are you willing to cross in pursuit of a dream? That is the urgent question for the protagonist of Music City, the new musical about a struggling Nashville singer-songwriter that is now playing a return engagement at St. Luke’s Theatre off-Broadway.

I absolutely loved it when it debuted with Bedlam in 2024, and I am pleased to report that the show’s radiant charm and ample heart have survived the transfer to midtown and several bumps along the way. I hope it becomes a big hit. Certainly, the music is better than anything that was written for Broadway this past season.

Much credit goes to JT Harding, who has taken some of the best songs from his catalog and put them in service of Peter Zinn’s book about brothers TJ (Stephen Michael Spencer) and Drew (Jonathan Judge-Russo). They grew up poor foster kids and now they write songs together (although Drew only comes up with the titles while TJ everything else). They occasionally perform those songs at the open mic of the Wicked Tickle, the East Nashville dive where TJ works as a barback.

That’s where Leanne (Leenya Rideout), a representative of a major record label, first hears their rollicking party anthem “Y’allsome.” She immediately wants it for her client, country superstar Stucky Stiles (Andrew Rothenberg), but the boys don’t even have a demo to share with her. To get the studio time needed to record one, they’ll have to come up with $2,000 quick. The only guy they know with that kind of cash on hand is Bakerman (also Rothenberg), the local meth dealer.

You can see where this story is going, but Zinn has a gift for raising the stakes at the exact right moment and in the most heartrending of ways. One of TJ’s regular delivery stops is to the home of Tammy (also Rideout), a washed-up singer-songwriter herself and the mother of 23, a young songstress with whom TJ would like to make beautiful music.

Lauren Lolo Pritchard delivers a remarkably lived-in performance as 23, considering she only joined the cast last Friday (stepping in for Casey Shuler). Her chemistry with the adorably charismatic Spencer is palpable, making our hearts skip a beat every time they are onstage together. You’ll be humming their irresistible duet “Smile” for days.

The supporting cast similarly comprises excellent actors: As Drew, Judge-Russo occupies the borderland between brotherly affection and scarcity-driven fear. Drew Bastian offers comic relief (and a steady beat) as drummer Newt. And Julianne B. Merrill is magnetic as bar owner Wyn, giving a performance that calls for her own spinoff musical (she also serves as music director).

In a cast full of multi-hyphenates excelling in multiple roles, Rideout and Rothenberg most impress with distinctive takes on their characters (both play two, often in back-to-back scenes). Rothenberg puts on a menacing lisp as Bakerman, then immediately drops an octave to play the satanically seductive Stucky. Rideout is all business as Leanne, but her haunting portrayal of Tammy, a woman embittered by her experience in a cruel and cutthroat industry, is the one that will linger in my mind. It was not lost on me that, as 23 sang her “I want” song “Something More,” Mom underscored her voice with a melancholy fiddle.

Every little flourish and design choice has been carefully considered under Eric Tucker’s resourceful direction, which conveys so much with so little. Clifton Chadick’s much expanded set somehow manages to feel even more intimate than it did in the tiny West End Theatre, with music memorabilia and Christmas lights occupying every inch of wall space. Although the script takes us to multiple locations (a recording studio, Tammy’s trailer, Stucky’s mansion), we never fully leave the mystical sanctuary of the bar. It is a testament to Tucker’s steady directorial hand that this fantastical violation of the rules of time and space never leaves us confused, but arrives like a live film with jump cuts and cinematic montages.

Eric Southern’s beefed-up lighting design helps sustain the fantasy, with moving lights and sparkly LEDs creating concert vibes in the cavern-like theater. Kindall Houston Almond’s essential costumes give us an immediate sense of character and status while also allowing for instant changes of character, often right in front of us. But sound designer Jane Shaw is the MVP, allowing for lyrical clarity and a pulsing bass to coexist in an acoustically difficult space. This is how you do an immersive musical.

All this is to say, you should really book a ticket to Music City. It is practically guaranteed to be the best musical to open in New York this summer.