"The Connector"

By Joseph Cervelli

With a too short run (only until March 17) I urge you to head to the captivating new musical "The Connector" at MCC Theater. With a compelling book by Jonathan Marc Sherman; a superb score by Jason Robert Brown and both skillfully conceived/directed by Daisy Prince it proves to be a chillingly prophetic work. So much of what transpires mirrors greatly on what is going on in our own country. What is truth? Can we play around with facts just to get a story written? Or worse can we say whatever we want and there will be those who don't check the validity of what is being said. Is the person in this case so definitive that their comments has to be true. These ideas are explored without hitting you over the head like a sledgehammer.

"The Connector" is a fictitious well respected magazine that was inaugurated back in 1946. It is now 1996 celebrating its fiftieth anniversary. The editor Conrad O'Brien (an excellent Scott Bakula) has announced that the publication has new corporate partners. He plans on retiring in the near future after a successful run as editor. There is great hope for the magazine to expand and continue for years to come. The opening number "The Whole World Changed"  has lyrics which in their way are foreboding: "The Facts Can Be Manipulated....We Are Not the Purveyors of Facts" convincingly sung by the forthright Conrad. Those lines set the stage for what we are going to witness for the one hour forty five minutes that you will be riveted to. 

Into the scene comes the seemingly pleasant Ethan Dobson (a thrilling Ben Levi Ross) who would like a job with the publication. He meets the copy editor Robin Martinez (a perfect Hannah Cruz.) While Robin feels a kind of attraction towards Ethan in the somewhat admiring "I'm Watching You" she slowly begins to have some doubts about this humble young man who becomes more than a little too sure of himself. 

Ethan's first story deals with his meeting in the West Village with the irreverent 70's style hippie Waldo (a very enjoyable Max Crumm) who is a genius scrabble player. Karla Puno Garcia does a great job of choreographing the lively number "Success" which becomes Ethan's focus in life. Success for him supersedes everything else. 

It is at this juncture we meet Mona Bland (a fine Mylinda Hull) whose name fits her demeanor in that she is a lonely person writing letters to the magazine that are first favorable concerning Dobson's reporting and then become critical.  She becomes far more prescient than you are led to believe. 

As Ethan becomes more self assured (think Harry Bogen from "I Can Get it For You Wholesale"), fact checker Muriel (an outstanding Jessica Molaskey) becomes more and more suspicious. Near the end of the musical she sings the poignant and highly personal "Proof" which nearly stops the show.

Sherman has done a terrific job of creating so many different characters yet having us concentrate on Ethan whose lively demeanor turns seductively over confident.  Ross just devours every moment he is on stage.

Bakula plays the editor of the paper with a quiet but determined demeanor,  and it is so great to hear his strong singing voice again.

Again, Brown has proven what a versatile composer he is.  From his exceptionally moving "The Last Five Years" to the breathtakingly beautiful score to "The Bridges of Madison County" he now delves as he did in "Honeymoon in Vegas" into a slightly jazzy one. From the honestly touching  “Proof" sung to perfection by Molaskey to Ross’s ferocity in “The Voice of My Generation" he is unbeatable. And what works so well in all his scores is establishing a perfect ballast intertwining the lyrics into the book.

And as I would expect the simple but effectively sleek, stylish set design by the expert Beowulf Borrit is splendid.

Daisy Prince's resonant direction moves steadily spending enough attention with each of the various characters. 

There could be an issue for some with Bakula's character not paying closer credence to when Ethan is asked for definite proof to substantiate the stories he wants to write about. Why is Conrad so quick to accept this? Could it be the story Ethan tells is so convincing or that before the editor finally retires he wants to go out receiving laurels for the stories he has chosen to  run. 

Despite that minor caveat everything clicks in this stirring new musical and the brilliant Ross says it all in the line from "The Voice of My Generation": "I Wasn't Planning to be the Voice of My Generation." Unfortunate that he was more concerned with his own importance rather than being truthful. 

Photos: Joan Marcus

Tickets are available at the Robert W. Wilson MCC Theater Space  511 West 52nd Street.