Taking a shine to a fine Shine! in the theatre festival

If you’re looking for a big, old-fashioned, good-hearted, life-affirming musical that holds out its arms to embrace you rather than sticking out its tongue in wise-guy, above-it-all, jaded fashion, Shine!: The Horatio Alger Musical is the ticket and the tickets to purchase a seat are available for performances through October 17.   Believe it or not – and some of the plot is not a lot believable, but that’s another story, so to speak --- it’s a real family show that old and young (well, not too young) can enjoy.  It’s hardly a new musical, or even a new-ish musical, unlike most in the NYMF (New York Musical Theatre Festival) presentations.  It began 30 years ago when composer Roger Anderson, along with his more-than-30-years-older lyricist, Lee Goldsmith, took on an even older source --- those life-lesson stories from the 1800s about the importance of integrity, work ethic, kindness and cheerfulness by Horatio Alger, Jr.

On the Lower East Side of New York, the struggling street urchins earned their coins by shining shoes or selling newspapers.  Our admirable hero is young Richard Hunter, survivor and seeker of a better life.  His kind soul attracts other kind souls and soon he is earning a better living working for a clothing shop and for a banker.  But challenges lie ahead and big trouble comes just before intermission.  Scrappy and resourceful, kind and hard-working, he’s bound to persevere – we hope.  Andy Mientus plays him with a twinkle in his eyes that radiates a mix of sweetness and mischievousness, goodwill and immense likeability, energy to burn.  It’s not at all surprising to read in his bio that he played Huckleberry Finn in Wichita in a production of Big River, but this is his New York debut.  With a pleasing singing voice and a knack for side-stepping much of the corny obviousness that might be a trap for such a role, he’s the plucky guy you root for and shines in Shine! with more than a dash of stage charisma.  That shine doesn’t come from slickness, because he doesn’t go the slick route.  He’s the centerpiece of the story.

There’s welcome contrast to this earnest jolly good fellow with the milk of human kindness in his veins via the somewhat veiled nastiness of a sly, conniving, jealous character of his shop co-worker, Gideon.  Played with delicious devilishness and expert comic timing by Jimmy Ray Bennett, who was recently seen garnering laughs in White’s Lies with Betty Buckley, the snickering and sneering is the spice that is the necessary evil of nastiness.  He calibrates it wonderfully.  He makes the most of the very fine number “A Hardworking Boy” with less sophisticated co-conspirator Higgins, played with flair and amusingly increasing frustration/awareness by Stanton Nash.  Philip Chaffin, as the rich man who really cares about others and has good radar for good souls, succeeds in making what could be a cardboard character cliché into a believable person — and does so with great efficiency. And, as those who have heard his recordings already know, he has a stirring, virile singing voice made for musical theatre.

The morality tale genre also has its down side.  In Richard Seff’s dialogue, notable for its successful transitions and economy in many scenes, characters tend to be either Good or Evil and not all are fleshed out or presented with convincing motivations.  Problematic, is the just-out-of-prison ne’er-do-well stepfather of Richard.  He keeps showing up like a bad penny who’ll steal much more than that and smells like trouble.  It’s a strong smell, telegraphed early and often.  A young, dewy-eyed miss who seems sweet as pie is his girlfriend and, despite his poor treatment of her and no apparent good side to him or indication of happier days in the past, she inexplicably sticks by him and helps him with a dastardly deed.  It seems that in this story, with other echoes of Oliver Twist, that they might be the equivalents Nancy, somehow dysfunctionally under the spell of her bad guy/bad-for-her Bill.  But it’s not fleshed out as to why she would care or care to help such a creep, or wake up and smell the coffee.  Is she just hopelessly dim when she sings that “Maybe Today” he will say he really loves her?  That song seems to want to be Oliver!’s Nancy’s number “As Long As He Needs Me” – but it’s wan and wispy and comes as her introduction before we know the deal or care.  Who is she, we wonder?   Other characters seem barely necessary as written, especially in a lengthy two-act musical.  A song about beer for the women taking a break is perhaps meant to be comic relief, and it’s kind of fun, but it slows things down, too, when there is something at stake in Act Two and we want things tied up.  And when time is of the essence to catch a kidnaper on the loose – and his victim --- it stretches even the adjusted credulity of musical theatre when the characters stand around and sing how important it is to find them right away, rather than running off.

Despite these shortcomings, not all so easily fixed, Shine! has a lot going for it: many of the songs, like the title number, “Respectable,” and the aforementioned “A Hardworking Boy,” are very satisfying and solid musical comedy stuff (an earlier cast album has been around for some time).  Captivating to hear and watch, musical director Annbritt duChateeau crisply leads a four-person on-stage band with inventive arrangements by the composer and orchestrator/music supervisor Greg Anthony.  Peter Flynn directs with particular skill in making key points and underlining moods and is adept at the flow of crowd scenes for this 19-member cast.  Likewise, choreographer Devanand Janki uses the ensemble well and movement is character-specific without feeling too “dancey” and showy.   Some faults can be forgiven due to the ambitious nature of the big show and the especially satisfying ending which is the kind of payoff that makes us love musical theater.  But there’s a lot to love here and the best qualities of Shine! shine through.   Go and give it a go: at its best, it’s refreshing and, dare I say it, even inspiring.

Shine! is at The Theater at St. Clements on West 46^th Street between Ninth and Tenth Avenues.  Remaining performances are October 15, 16, 17.  See www.nymf.org for tix/info on this and the other shows.