Review Roundup: Dave Malloy's PRELUDES Opens Off-Broadway

Eisa Davis, Gabriel Ebert, Nikki M. James, Joseph Keckler, Chris Sarandon, and Or Matias star in LCT3/Lincoln Center Theater production of PRELUDES, a new musical by Dave Malloy, inspired by the music of Sergei Rachmaninov, developed with and directed by Rachel Chavkin.

PRELUDES, a world premiere and the first musical produced by LCT3 in the Claire Tow Theater, opened last night, June 15, and runs through Sunday, July 19 at the Claire Tow Theater (150 West 65th Street).

From the creators of Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812, PRELUDES is a musical fantasia set in the hypnotized mind of Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninov. After the disastrous premiere of his first symphony, the young Rachmaninov (played by Gabriel Ebert) suffers from writer's block. He begins daily sessions with a therapeutic hypnotist (played by Eisa Davis), in an effort to overcome depression and return to composing.

Let's see what the critics had to say...

Ben Brantley, The New York Times: Writer's block turns out to be a lot more inspiring than you could ever have imagined - and sad and stirring and gloriously fun. In "Preludes"...Dave Malloy makes beautiful music out of a composer's three years of creative silence...As undeniable as it is, Rach's pain is also our pleasure for the two phantasmagorical hours of this walls-bursting chamber work...Mr. Malloy and Ms. Chavkin have delivered the best musical about art's agonies since Georges Seurat wielded a twitchy paintbrush in Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's "Sunday in the Park With George"...As a songwriter, [Malloy] incorporates wildly diverse sources - classical, folk, electro-pop - into a form that exists defiantly beyond the quotation marks of postmodernism. He's that rarity, a smart sentimentalist whose self-consciousness about his feelings in no way dilutes them. His embrace of Rachmaninoff, in all his emotional excesses, is that of a deeply empathic fan.

Marilyn Stasio, Variety: Composer Dave Malloy responds to the music with his own boyish enthusiasm in "Preludes," a highly personal mashup of Rachmaninoff's work, a dark period of his history, and Malloy's own musical compositions. There's no denying the energy and the passion of his inventive interpretation, but it's a jejune piece, lacking the near-universal appeal of his 2013 electropop opera "Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812"...For all the fancy stagecraft devised by director Rachel Chavkin...nothing in this ingeniously staged but overlong and self-indulgent piece comes close to giving the same transporting pleasure as Matias's ravishing piano playing. Which is not to slight Ebert's brave perf as Rach...the prodigiously talented performer is perfectly cast as the gangling young genius...But in the end, it proves more exhausting than entertaining (or even uplifting) to follow Rach's loopy thoughts and Malloy's mannered musicianship.

David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter: A load of talent and resources has been thrown at this ambitious bio-drama, which features some rhapsodic music - notably via the masterful hands of onstage pianist Or Matias - and glorious singing. However, the distancing show is too clever by half; it's dense, exhausting and pretentious. None of that is the fault of the cast, ably led by the lanky Gabriel Ebert...as the tortured Rach'n'roller...Preludes unfolds inside the hypnotized mind of Rachmaninoff, and the creative team twists itself inside out trying to make artist's block theatrical and involving. But it can't be done; at least not here...The inescapable hitch here is that despite all of Malloy's cultural erudition and century-hopping psychological observation, the composer's unrelenting self-flagellation over whether he's a genius or a hack is a big yawn.

Adam Feldman, Time Out NY: One step to surmounting writer's block, they say, is to give oneself permission to fail. In that sense, Dave Malloy's Preludes may be considered a positive step...Preludes feels boneless and blobby: a two-hour mishmash of navel-gazing vignettes about the difficulty of being an artist, scored with snatches of classical music and meandering arioso...aside from a solo for Sergei's wife (Nikki M. James), there are few moments of conflict or human connection. Flashes of intelligence notwithstanding, Preludes is largely hermetic and dull. I look forward to whatever Malloy does next.

Joe Dziemianowicz, New York Daily News: Light bulbs and lamps dangle over the stage in "Preludes." Fitting, because the new musical by Dave Malloy is packed with bright ideas. If only the show had heart to go with the brains. You can't help but wish for more emotional payoff considering Malloy's musical take on Tolstoy's "War and Peace" "Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812," was fueled by both wit and infectious passion. This show, directed by Rachel Chavkin, who also helmed "Natasha," feels more like a well-performed but dry-eyed thesis...Malloy weaves his own compositions with variations on Rachmaninoff themes as the composer wrestles with his creative block and deals with various characters...The music comes and goes - Malloy's compositions the paler of the two.

Elisabeth Vincentelli, New York Post: But Malloy's playfulness is paired with a deep knowledge and love for his subject. Many of the numbers are variations on Rachmaninoff themes, most performed by onstage pianist Or Matias, who shares the lead role with Ebert; a pair of synthesizer players lurk in the back. The songs display Malloy's conversational flair and his gift for aching melody, especially in "Natalya," in which the composer's wife (Nikki M. James, "The Book of Mormon") laments her inability to help her "bifurcated genius" of a husband. The show could have used more of that unfiltered emotion - it loses focus jumping back and forth, and sometimes gets just a little too clever. The one constant is Malloy's talent, which, amazingly, isn't crushed by Rachmaninoff's long shadow.

Jeremy Gerard, Deadline: Anachronisms (a toaster sits beside the samovar in the kitchen) and malaprops abound, some of the humor is sophomoric and at a couple of points the whole thing comes perilously close to tweenosity - especially in Malloy's stream-of-consciousness songs interspersed with the more serious music and a little of which goes a long way. But in the end Preludes is an involving and ultimately moving story about the unknowable ebbs and flows of creativity that artists fear, sometimes master, sometimes fall victim to and invariably navigate over the course of a lifetime. As recreated here, it's a most intriguing and engaging journey down the rabbit hole of artistic accomplishment.

Steven Suskin, The Huffington Post: Malloy and director/co-conceiver Rachel Chavkin (also from The Great Comet) have used events of more than one hundred years ago to examine creativity, psyche and the artistic mind...If all of this sound interesting but slightly archaic, that is indeed the case. Malloy and Chavkin...weave a wondrous world for us. There are at least three sequences in which music, drama and design combine for stunningly dazzling theatre...These are almost astonishingly moving, displaying the full potential of Malloy & Chavkin's vision...Presiding over it all is Gabriel Ebert, giving an impressively rich performance in the complicated portrayal of the troubled artist...Compelling? Yes. Entirely successful as a play, or as a musical whatnot? Not quite. But Preludes is an exciting experiment, buoyed by Malloy & Chavkin's unique vision; Ebert's masterful performance; Orr's piano playing; and all that Rachmaninoff roaring through the intimate playhouse on the roof of the Vivian Beaumont.

Robert Feldberg, NorthJersey.com: The score for "Preludes," which is the best part of the evening, consists of straight Rachmaninoff; Malloy compositions suggested by Rachmaninoff...and original Malloy pieces. The dramatic element isn't as successful, making the evening as a whole less than compelling. Under the direction of Rachel Chavkin...there's no consistent sense that what we see emanates from Rachmaninoff's altered brain. Other than a busy, askew scenic design and some lighting effects, things are pretty prosaic. Acted by the likable Gabriel Ebert ("Matilda"), the composer comes across as an ordinary, reasonable guy...He has a loving, if not especially passionate, relationship with his wife, played - and beautifully sung - by Nikki M. James ("The Book of Mormon")...Another issue is that the stakes just don't seem very high. Rachmaninoff is frustrated but hardly devastated by his block...Even with misfires such as "Preludes," Malloy impresses as a thoroughly original, engaging musical-theater thinker, the creator of works that are as humane as they are distinctive.

Photo by Kyle Froman