Theater Thursday: Joy

We were given complimentary tickets to Joy for review purposes. Any and all opinions expressed here are our own.

What: Joy

Where: NBPAC 

             11 Livingston Ave.

             New Brunswick, NJ

Who: Recommended for Ages 8 and Up 

When: Through December 30, 2022

The new musical Joy is the story of inventor and entrepreneur, Joy Magano. Her story was previously told in the motion picture, Joy starring Jennifer Lawrence. The current musical presents a a much more upbeat version of her story than the movie did. This is not say that the musical is happy from start to finish or that it does not attempt to accurately portray her struggles. However, it thankfully does not consistently dwell on the negative throughout the story as the film did.  Accordingly, this a much more palatable and enjoyable version of the story although it does at times seem to go a bit overboard in the other direction particularly in the somewhat sappy conclusion.

Despite its unrealistic ending, the show, on the whole, is both interesting and inspiring. There are some nice songs too including the rousing opening number, Welcome to My World as well as Is This as Good as It Gets an aggressively energetic number sung by the character of Joy's young daughter. Not all of the songs are particularly memorable, however,  

Erica Henningsen shines in the lead role of Joy. She is better than she's ever been and definitely the primary reason to see this show. Overall, the show leaves you happy which is a lot more than can be said for the film. 

And that's our view. For more about Joy or to purchase tickets, visit georgestreetplayhouse.org.

Tune in Sunday for this week's Sunday Scoop.

Photo credits:

All Joy production photos by T. Charles Erickson