BWW Reviews: Philadelphia Theatre Company's World Premiere Musical STARS OF DAVID

Stars of David is a world premiere musical based on Abigail Pogrebin's book, Stars of David: Prominent Jews Talk About Being Jewish.  Nancy is a journalist who doesn't feel a connection with her Jewish heritage and decides to embark on a book project to interview well-known figures about their cultural identity.  The interviews result in words, videos and musical portrayals of Gloria Steinem, Leonard Nimoy, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Joan Rivers, Aaron Sorkin, Tony Kushner, Fran Drescher and more. 

Stars of David features original music by an array of Broadway composer/lyricists including William Finn, Tom Kitt, Marvin Hamlisch, Sheldon Harnick, Marc Shaiman and Duncan Sheik. Utilizing the song-cycle style of musical and gathering works from so many different composers/lyricists creates a somewhat hodge-podge element.  Though, perhaps that diversity of style works as a positive since it is intended to characterize so many different people.  While some songs well represented their famous figures, others didn't feel fully accurate.  Because of this, and potentially due to the show being a mere 90-minutes long, we're left with a rather narrow portrait into Jewish identity past and present.  

Stars of David features an ensemble of extremely talented and prolific actors. Aside from Nancy Balbirer who plays the character of Nancy, our narrator, a collective of four (Alex Brightman, Joanna Glushak, Brad Oscar and Donna Vivino) takes on the various roles with ease and authenticity. 

Clever and supportive projections (designed by Jason H. Thompson) helped establish background on the characters through video interview clips, pictures, tv show clips and more.  The projections were perfectly supported by a great canvas – a library of bookshelves that subtlety incorporated tvs, accessories and unexpected scene spaces (designed by Beowulf Boritt).

Performances of Stars of David by the Philadelphia Theatre Company run through November 18.  For tickets and more information, visit http://www.philadelphiatheatrecompany.org/. 

Photo credit: Courtesy Philadelphia Theatre Company