Wanted Broadway Reviews

This messiness is a shame because a great musical could yet be somewhere inside this odd contraption. It might need to be much shorter, with fewer of Baum’s songs, which tend to crowd one another out in this overstuffed version; it might need to re...

This messiness is a shame because a great musical could yet be somewhere inside this odd contraption. It might need to be much shorter, with fewer of Baum’s songs, which tend to crowd one another out in this overstuffed version; it might need to return to the drawing board to work out its plot. But Chéri displays an emotional and moral imagination in her musical’s passing narrative that she does not with the vigilante part of her great-great aunts’ legend. I wanted to hear more. Certainly, I cannot stop thinking about Mary, trying to meet her own eyes in the mirror. Forget being “Wanted.” What does she want?

Wanted pulses with the urgency of two women taking fate into their own hands, backed by a sharpshooting ensemble. Leading the charge is a six-person chorus of ancestors (the Kinfolk) that sings with the fervor of the Second Coming. The journey, inspi...

Wanted pulses with the urgency of two women taking fate into their own hands, backed by a sharpshooting ensemble. Leading the charge is a six-person chorus of ancestors (the Kinfolk) that sings with the fervor of the Second Coming. The journey, inspired by the true story of book writer and lyricist Angelica Chéri’s great-great-aunts, adds to the mystique.

It’s a preview of what’s to come. Too many of the two dozen musical numbers in “Wanted” force the show’s first-rate singers to start full-throttle and rarely dip into a more moderate register. Their voices are impressive; the songs they’r...

It’s a preview of what’s to come. Too many of the two dozen musical numbers in “Wanted” force the show’s first-rate singers to start full-throttle and rarely dip into a more moderate register. Their voices are impressive; the songs they’re given to sing too often feel almost aggressive.

So far so good, but here’s where it falls short. The book for the musical, also written by Chéri, is full of holes and the plotting is so convoluted and farfetched it’s hard to know who to root for. In a quick succession of scenes, the outlaw si...

So far so good, but here’s where it falls short. The book for the musical, also written by Chéri, is full of holes and the plotting is so convoluted and farfetched it’s hard to know who to root for. In a quick succession of scenes, the outlaw sisters tear up the west, robbing white men (and women) with such improbable ease that a bounty of $5000 is put on their heads. When they’re finally caught red-handed by Jesse (Bradley Jaden), a white landowner, it leads to a romance. He’s the main villain in the story, yet there’s little villainy to show until a revelation at the end. But it’s mostly talk, not enough action. None of that may matter all that much when the company starts to sing, which is right at the very top. The “Prologue” led by six performers all dressed in flowing white costumes introduce the story. They are the angelic “Kinfolk” acting as a kind of Greek chorus with voices that are truly heaven sent. Melody A. Betts, Jennie Harney-Fleming, Aaron Arnell Harrington, Harris Matthew, and Hailey Thomas stand out individually and in harmonizing unison, each capable of blowing the roof off the James Earl Jones Theatre.

Though the narrative isn’t particularly distinct, especially since the central plot largely focuses on the sisters finding love rather than their outlaw status or the true costs of passing, the show’s vocal talent is beyond exceptional. Ledisi, L...

Though the narrative isn’t particularly distinct, especially since the central plot largely focuses on the sisters finding love rather than their outlaw status or the true costs of passing, the show’s vocal talent is beyond exceptional. Ledisi, LaFontaine and Pfeiffer are all phenomenal. Backed by an orchestra led by Paul Byssainthe, Jr., the play has several standout numbers, including “Inheritance” and “Mary’s Nightmare.” But the rest of the musical numbers and lyrics don’t exactly pack a punch. Scenic design by Beowulf Boritt and video and projection design by Stefania Bulbarella give the stage much-needed depth, allowing the audience to understand the texture of the time period and place. The singing itself, though, is truly the glue that holds the entire show together.

The tweaks made for the Broadway transfer were mostly smart ones. The pacing is tighter (though, maybe too tight in places), the orchestrations are lusher and the design is more robust. Lauded scenic designer Beowulf Boritt houses most of the action ...

The tweaks made for the Broadway transfer were mostly smart ones. The pacing is tighter (though, maybe too tight in places), the orchestrations are lusher and the design is more robust. Lauded scenic designer Beowulf Boritt houses most of the action under the weathered-wood framing of a barn, affording director Stevie Walker-Webb the chance to create some levels in his stage pictures. Stefania Bulbarella’s video projections are tasteful more often than not, effectively employing patterned color washes to establish changes of location. We at least see the intended grit and passion of the piece, even if we don’t always feel it.

Wanted remains patchy in its serviceable-to-good lyricism, but it refreshingly paves a less trod path on the Great White Way. The musical is adamant about not apologizing for enacting retribution on the bastards who feed off America’s original sin....

Wanted remains patchy in its serviceable-to-good lyricism, but it refreshingly paves a less trod path on the Great White Way. The musical is adamant about not apologizing for enacting retribution on the bastards who feed off America’s original sin. No doubt the Clarke sisters are blazing, and belting, a trail for strong-willed, complicated Black women in original musicals.

Wanted lacks the force of stylistic vision necessary to pull it off. And if the incongruities work against the show, its opposite – a decided sameness in Baum’s score and Stevie Walker-Webb’s direction – does likewise. From start to finish, e...

Wanted lacks the force of stylistic vision necessary to pull it off. And if the incongruities work against the show, its opposite – a decided sameness in Baum’s score and Stevie Walker-Webb’s direction – does likewise. From start to finish, every song builds immediately to a roof-raising, applause-soliciting belt, a stacked approach that extends from the main characters to the “kinfolk,” a Greek chorus-style collection of Clarke ancestors dressed like a church choir from beyond, offering context and plot details (and choreographed movement) when the tale needs some padding. Fortunately, the cast is well equipped to meet the excessive vocal demands, from the principals to the ringer-heavy kinfolk. Certainly no one could blame Ledisi, as the stalwart mother, from indulging in the let-loose approach, otherwise her frequent intrusions (usually as scolding apparition) into the newly live-it-up lives of her daughters would seem more killjoy than they already do.

Baum and Chéri demonstrate a knack for comedic numbers, from the patter song of the white chorus aboard a train to the spotlight tunes in which two Black hotel maids (Awa Sal Secka and Aurelia Williams, both scene-stealing phenoms) gossip about the ...

Baum and Chéri demonstrate a knack for comedic numbers, from the patter song of the white chorus aboard a train to the spotlight tunes in which two Black hotel maids (Awa Sal Secka and Aurelia Williams, both scene-stealing phenoms) gossip about the sisters who just checked in. Sissy and Flo immediately clock the Clarkes’ secret (“The pot got bored when it called the kettle…” they sing as someone walks in and utters the missing word.) The rest of the score is vocally ambitious and beautifully sung, with gorgeous full-choir harmonies and finely wrought pastiches of various African American musical traditions. But if you put Martha’s six-shooter to my head, I don’t think I could reproduce a melody from any of the ballads, blues numbers, and gospel-style choral works that fill the show. There are also far too many songs, and not enough that help advance the plot or deepen our understanding of the characters. 

Wanted’s storytelling also isn’t persuasively heightened by its music. Composer Ross Baum’s melodies often sizzle, more so in his gospel and R&B tunes than in the pop ballads, and he leaves plenty of room for vocal pyrotechnics, but Chéri pack...

Wanted’s storytelling also isn’t persuasively heightened by its music. Composer Ross Baum’s melodies often sizzle, more so in his gospel and R&B tunes than in the pop ballads, and he leaves plenty of room for vocal pyrotechnics, but Chéri packages almost all the story’s momentum into lengthy dialogue scenes. When the songs arrive, despite the frequent sense of musical build-up that suggests something ought to be shifting dramatically, they’re snapshots of characters’ reactions to spoken scenes, sonically galvanizing but usually theatrically hollow.

Soul is something the Clarke sisters have in spades. LaFontaine’s Martha wears her outrage on her sleeve, ready to bare teeth at the world in the name of protecting her family. Still, it’s Pfeiffer’s cautious Mary that sits at the emotional cen...

Soul is something the Clarke sisters have in spades. LaFontaine’s Martha wears her outrage on her sleeve, ready to bare teeth at the world in the name of protecting her family. Still, it’s Pfeiffer’s cautious Mary that sits at the emotional center of the show. Her desire to be viewed as a full person becomes the crux of the story being told, and Wanted doesn’t shy away from the darkness of those impulses nor the humanity of her desperation.

Beyond the show’s two maids, the most riveting aspect of “Wanted” is the sly way in which Pfeiffer’s Mary goes from real gold digger to committed lover with her follow-up song, “The Way I Am.” With these two back-to-back hits, Ross Baum d...

Beyond the show’s two maids, the most riveting aspect of “Wanted” is the sly way in which Pfeiffer’s Mary goes from real gold digger to committed lover with her follow-up song, “The Way I Am.” With these two back-to-back hits, Ross Baum delivers beguiling melodies that are a kind of elevated recitative. Elsewhere, this Broadway-debutant composer comes down with a bad case of anthem-itis. Several songs begin small and promisingly, but after a stanza or two, the tunes inevitably go big and quickly crescendo into deafening. It’s difficult to tell if the audience is applauding the performer or the sound design by Gareth Owens.

Pfeiffer's jaw-dropping performance, however, is the one everyone will leave the theater talking about. As her character struggles with her competing priorities of love, acceptance and racial identity, Pfeiffer performs what may be her career-definin...

Pfeiffer's jaw-dropping performance, however, is the one everyone will leave the theater talking about. As her character struggles with her competing priorities of love, acceptance and racial identity, Pfeiffer performs what may be her career-defining role as Mary (and a career-defining number sung to a mirror) that solidifies this musical as a must-see.

Ultimately, as the full story behind “Wanted” unfolds, everything boils down to the age-old question of how many wrongs does it take to make something right. And indeed, there’s not enough gray area here about who the “good guys” and “bad...

Ultimately, as the full story behind “Wanted” unfolds, everything boils down to the age-old question of how many wrongs does it take to make something right. And indeed, there’s not enough gray area here about who the “good guys” and “bad guys” are. “Wanted” is very much a tale told in Black and White.

The central problem here is that Chéri can’t have it both ways. She wants us to love these spunky sib-outlaws and celebrate the clever ways Black Americans found ways to fight back against racism. All of that is great, especially since a highli...

The central problem here is that Chéri can’t have it both ways. She wants us to love these spunky sib-outlaws and celebrate the clever ways Black Americans found ways to fight back against racism. All of that is great, especially since a highlight of the show is a pair of smart, reactive servants — Sissy and Flo, hilariously played by Aurelia Williams and Awa Sal Secka — who energize Ross’ music by figuring out the Clarke sisters long before anyone else. But Chéri is not about to send Mary and Martha off a cliff, metaphorical or otherwise, even though the show truly would be better if they went down with guns blazing, ideally having previous dispatched a few racist Texans. Ergo, a problem not uncommon with new musicals, which is to moralize instead of letting characters go where they would logically travel with the audience providing the wind beneath their wings.

They definitely want it to be emotional and try to send us away wiping our eyes with a shameless company finale called “All of Me.” The women return home and Mary at this point has not a single likable trait left. Everything with mom is magically...

They definitely want it to be emotional and try to send us away wiping our eyes with a shameless company finale called “All of Me.” The women return home and Mary at this point has not a single likable trait left. Everything with mom is magically fine, and the entire cast rises up in a generic feel-good gospel tune to declare that who we are is “in the blood.” That’s all well and good. But I sat there wishing that during “Wanted”’s decade of development and multiple major regional productions, the writers had addressed the countless problems in the book.