Theater Thursday - Empire Records

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

What: Empire Records

Where: McCarter Theater Center 

             Berlind Theatre

             91 University Pl.

             Princeton, NJ

Who: Recommended for Ages 13 and Up

When: Through October 6, 2024

Empire Records is an exuberant joyous musical. It is full of high-energy rock songs that feel like they would be at home on the radio at least during the period when the musical takes place, the late 1990s. The dancing is quite ebullient as well although it mostly seems to feature a lot of jumping around reminiscent of the kids in School of Rock.

The show is based on the movie of the same name which was released in 1995 regarding a group of teenagers who work in a record shop and band together to save it from a corporate takeover. The book of the musical, written by the movie's screenwriter, excellently updates the piece including removing certain questionable elements from the film.

The cast is populated with an array of young actors although they are mostly in their twenties, unlike the teenagers they portray.  Most are known for previous appearances on Broadway in shows like & Juliet, How to Dance in Ohio, and Mrs. Doubtfire. The adults in the show are played by Michael Luwoye, Taylor Iman Jones, and Damon Dannuo as rockstar, Rex Manning. They are also known for their appearances on Broadway in such shows as Hamilton, Six, and Oklahoma.

The performances are terrific all around. Liam Pierce plays a character similar to his character in How to Dance in Ohio in that he is a young man with a deep crush on a young woman that he is having great difficulty acting upon. He is just so sweet and lovable in roles of this type, however. Lorna Courtney's character. Cory is also somewhat similar to her recent role in & Juliet in that she is a sheltered young woman who wants to experience more of life although she is not nearly as sheltered as Juliet.

The set is amazing. If you are of an age when you spent a lot of time in record shops, it will fill you with nostalgia. Although allegedly record shops are making a comeback these days as we are told in the epilogue of the show. That's good news for record lovers as well as for any young people who see this show and then suddenly get the urge to seek employment there because of how fun the show makes it seem although the reality couldn't possibly live up to the joy of the show.

And that's our view. For more about Empire Records or to purchase tickets, visit www.mccarter.org/empirerecords

Tune in Saturday for Still More Theater Saturday.

Photo credits:

All Empire Records production photos by Daniel Rader

Images used in this post have been sent to us from publicists, artists, and/or  PR firms and are used by permission. If there is a problem with the rights to any image,  contact us here, and we will look into the matter.