She was a girl from Boston with a voice from heaven, who shot through the stars from gospel choir to dance floor diva. But what the world didn't know was how Donna Summer risked it all to break through barriers, becoming the icon of an era and the inspiration for every music diva who followed.
Tony Award winner LaChanze (The Color Purple), Ariana DeBose (Hamilton, A Bronx Tale) and newcomer Storm Lever play Donna Summer, taking us through her tumultuous life, tempestuous loves and mega-watt musical hits. Spend the night in her electrifying universe.
Heaven knows what the creators of Summer are thinking, if any thought at all has gone into this disco dud of a show. Three talented and blameless women-LaChanze, Ariana DeBose and Storm Lever-play the late Donna Summer at different stages of her life in a tacky, sub-Vegas jukebox biomusical that draws from the singer's groovy catalog of hits, including 'I Feel Love,' 'MacArthur Park,' 'On the Radio' and 'Last Dance.' At its most watchable, the show plays like a barely dramatized adaptation of Summer's Spotify and Wikipedia pages. But when it's bad, it's so, so bad.
What saves all this, of course, is the celebration of the music, with a parade of hits starting with her first biggie, the mildly controversial 'Love to Love You Baby' (many references to the orgasmic nature of the song), and on to Billboard toppers such as 'MacArthur Park,' 'On the Radio' and 'She Works Hard for the Money.' Never mind that these songs sometimes show up without moving the story along, as when a chorus line of hookers appears for no discernible reason other than to sing 'Bad Girls.'
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