Review: Pericles the Musical? You Bet, and It’s a Treat

Of all the Shakespeare plays that could be given the musical treatment, Pericles would probably have never been anywhere near the top of my list. At least that’s what I thought going into the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, where the Public Theater has staged (for a five-performance run through Tuesday), a Public Works production of this quirky and altogether outrageously plotted story of one man’s Odyssey-like journey from loss to redemption and from despair to hope.

On the other hand, it’s that journey that makes it an ideal subject for a show that goes on its own musical voyage. That’s what composer and lyricist Troy Anthony has created in his Pericles: A Concert Experience, a celebration of music’s power to keep us going in the most desperate times with songs inspired by gospel, R&B, funk, and the blues. In Public Works fashion, Broadway stars share the stage with a choir of more than 100 performers from all walks of life and create an experience that feels as ecumenical as the space it takes place in.

The choice to present Pericles in a house of worship (much less the largest Gothic cathedral in the world) might be surprising initially, especially when you consider that the play contains about every sin you can imagine, from incest to murder to human trafficking. In a nutshell, it tells the whirlwind story of a prince who flees for his life from a wicked king, saves a country from starvation, marries the daughter of another king, and then, while at sea, loses both her and his own daughter (who is later kidnapped by pirates and sold to a brothel). But the choice to hold the show in a church makes a little more sense when, through divine intervention and unlikely twists of fate, they are reunited as a family who have suffered much but are ultimately rewarded for their virtue—and their gospel-belting abilities.

Anthony and Classical Theatre of Harlem director Carl Cofield (making his Public Theater debut) do their best to make the story’s twists and turns coherent, with a brilliant Crystal Lucas-Perry playing the narrator Gower and guiding us from scene to scene. In the title role, Ato Blankson-Wood shows off his vocal chops in “Pericles’ Prayer” as well as in a moving duet with Denée Benton as Pericles’s wife, Thaisa (wearing one of Riw Rakkulchon’s breathtaking costumes). Amina Faye as Pericles’s daughter, Marina, gets hands in the air as she persuades a brothel patron to give up his sinful ways in the hilarious gospel-infused “Find Your Light.” And a golden-tiaraed Alex Newell (sadly underutilized) appears as the goddess Diana with a voice reaching the loftiest arches of St. John’s in the jubilant “All Will Be Restored.”

The real star of the production, however, is of course the 100-plus-member choir, who surround the action and fill the vast echoing cathedral with Anthony’s music and rousingly lift their arms during the gospel numbers (Tiffany Rea-Fisher choreographs). Melissa Mizell’s lighting waxes and wanes with the songs and creates shadowy awe in the chancel as Justin Stasiw and Walter Trarbach’s sound design lets us comprehend most of the dialogue in the echo-heavy space.

Like other musical Public Works productions, there’s more original music and lyrics than actual Shakespearean text (Fiasco Theater’s exceptional production last year stuck more to the script). If you’re a purist, try not to let that bother you and just celebrate the fact that this version is making Pericles more accessible and familiar to more people than before. (Get to the cathedral well in advance of the 8pm curtain time; the show is free, seating is limited, and demand is high.) Pericles is still one of the weirdest and wildest plays that Shakespeare ever wrote, but it never sounded so good.