Theater Thursday - Sing Street

What: Sing Street 

Where: Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA 

            527 Tremont

            Boston, MA

Who: Recommended for Ages 13 and Up

When: Through October 9, 2022

Me & Mom - Sing Street the musical played Off-Broadway just before the pandemic and was scheduled to open on Broadway in the ill-fated 2020 season. When shows began to reopen or announce they would not be reopening, Sing Street was the only scheduled show that did neither. However, a production of this musical is currently finishing up a run at the Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA in Boston.

While the show is one of many about a group of kids forming a band, it puts a unique spin on the genre. These kids are not forming a band because they want to enter and win some kind of contest which is usually the case with these shows, but basically because a guy wants to impress a girl. Although this premise may seem farfetched, it works well in terms of the plot and sets off a very sweet relationship between the protagonist, Conor, and the girl of his dreams, Raphina. Raphina at first seems like she is going to be an overly ambitious character who is only it for what others can do for her, but she turns out not to be that way at all which is refreshing.

In fact, there are a lot of things about this show that are different than what you would expect, and therefore, make the show more interesting and enjoyable. For one thing, the relationship between Conor and his siblings is neither a case of extreme antagonistic sibling rivalry nor is it a case of hiding their love for one another behind a wall of good-natured teasing. On the contrary, their relationships show genuine love and concern for one another. This does not mean they are all huggy-huggy or anything over the top like that. Nevertheless, their love for each other definitely shines through in a heartwarming but not saccharine way.

Both the music and the story are mostly taken from the movie of the same name. The music is both catchy and memorable and for the most part, uplifting particularly the sunshine-infused Up. The plot is very similar to the movie although many of the characters are much more developed and play a much larger role in the show than they did in the movie. Although the ending of the show seems a little implausible, it is slightly less so than in the movie in which the main character was younger. On the whole, there are darker parts to the story the show is mostly joyous and hopeful.  We sincerely hope it still makes its way to Broadway.

And that's our view. Tune in Sunday for this week's Sunday Scoop.

Photo credits: 

All Sing Street production photos by Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade