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The New York Musical Theatre Festival 2015
That's no small trick, but Moran, Pappas, and their boisterously resourceful director, Peter Flynn, have made it look simple. They have reimagined His Holiness as a comic book superhero, complete with origin story: A young boy, coincidentally named Pope (and played, with boundless energy, by Sam Bolen), wants nothing more than to lead the Church and gets his dream through a series of fortuitous and unlikely circumstances. But surviving at the top of the Vatican power structure isn't easy, thanks to the evil Archbishop (Ken Land, uncompromising and unassailable) who longs for a return to the old days of the Church: stress the dangers of straying and using its might and inestimable wealth to enforce righteousness, rather than profess Pope's modern gospel that references, among other things, blueberry muffins and burritos. Moran (book and lyrics) and Pappas (music and lyrics) unleash their wild adventure, which spans the globe and conventional notions of time, without dwelling overly much on the underlying doctrine. This means that all that burbles to the surface is fun, in copious amounts, as Pope rises and falls, makes friends and enemies, and learns an expected lesson or two about the value of humility, contrition, and even forgiveness. The score is a fine blending of old-fashioned melodrama, Saturday morning cartoon, and religious influences that's accompanied with affectionate gusto by musical director Adam Podd and his band. It's a lot to juggle, but everything flows without straining thanks to Flynn, choreographer Wendy Seyb, set designer Rob Bissinger, and costume designer Vanessa Leuck. They play up at every turn the notion that this is a graphic novel sprung to life and remain relevant; however zany the proceedings get (and, especially when the flashbacks, fake beards, and hallucinatory gospel singalongs hit in the second half, they get pretty crazy), they're always grounded by a message that's worth discussing. Nor do the performances flag. By virtue of almost nonstop stage time, the affable Bolen and the pitch-perfect Land make the biggest impressions, and share an effective chemistry in the many scenes in which their ideologies clash. They receive glowing support from Britney Coleman as Mary Elizabeth, Pope's childhood flame and current nun; Dylan S. Wallach as a bloodthirsty journalist who becomes the Archbishop's unwitting pawn; Jason Edward Cook as Duncan, a cardinal who's so thrilled to be the Archbishop's friend, he'll go along with all his dastardly schemes; and Jarid Fabuel and Gilbert L. Bailey II as, respectively, God and Jesus, if not exactly the way you may be anticipate seeing them. But even down to the tiniest roles, everyone is playing for dramatic and comedic keeps. Their efforts pay enormous compound dividends until the last ten minutes or so; at that point, the underwhelming climactic confrontation between Pope and the Archbishop, and the mawkish, moralizing finale arrive, and both are distractingly out of sync with what precedes them. Some additional tightening and reconsidering would definitely help ensure that the evening's wrap-up is, like the rest of Pope!, meaningful and wholly delightful.
Pope!
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