Glenn Gamboa

Unlike Springsteen concerts, which often feel like an adrenaline-fueled run up steps from one emotional plateau to the next, 'Springsteen on Broadway' is linear, weighting each story and song equally. It's a list come to life.

It's fitting that the ambitions behind 'Holler If Ya Hear Me' are as outsized as the artist who inspired it -- rapper, poet and actor Tupac Shakur...And it's to Leon's credit that 'Holler,' a simple story of how the people on a current-day block of an unnamed Midwestern industrial town deal with a tragedy, turns out as well as it does...However, the story often feels like it's jumping through hoops to move from one stellar performance from the cast to the next. It becomes a roller coaster of emotions for those on the stage, but they're moving so fast that the audience doesn't really get a chance to connect to them. In the end, 'Holler' leaves you feeling more exhausted than inspired.

Once it gets going, though, the heart of The Rascals' story and, more importantly, their music, starts to win out.