Theater review by Tim Teeman
When you enter the Claire Tow Theater to see Night Side Songs, a welcoming cast member provides you with a songbook so that you can join along when prevailed upon to sing. If you’re the kind of person who freezes with horror at the very mention of audience participation, fear not: The spotlight will never fall on you. The scattered moments of group song that emerge as the heart of the show are entirely communal.
This original musical, which features text and a folk score by the brothers Daniel and Patrick Lazour (We Live in Cairo) and was developed with director Taibi Magar, is about living in the shadow of terminal illness. Drawn from real-life testimonies of patients, caregivers, doctors and nurses, the show focuses on the experience of Yasmine (Brooke Ishibashi), joining her on a physical and emotional rollercoaster that begins with the shock of her cancer diagnosis. Along for the ride are Yasmine’s quirky, supportive husband (Jonathan Raviv), her gay doctor and former eighth-grade crush (Robin de Jesús), her nurse (Kris Saint-Louis) and her impossible but fiercely loving mom (Mary Testa, commanding as ever). Alex Bechtel supplies precise musical direction and piano arrangements; Justin Stasiw’s sound design and Amith Chandrashaker’s lighting—which includes a stunning circular orb of empty bottles—are also impressive.
Night Side Songs | Photograph: Courtesy Marc J. Franklin
Night Side Songs takes its title from a line in Susan Sontag’s influential 1978 book Illness as Metaphor: “Illness is the night side of life, a more onerous citizenship, in the kingdom of the well and in the kingdom of the sick.” The show is most powerful when it maps the topography of the latter realm in detail: the exhaustion of treatments, the insanity of medical bills, moments of laughter and joy (as crystallized in a brilliant song, “A Little Wine,” that celebrates merry defiance in the face of mortality). It is somewhat less compelling when it detours into Yasmine’s family background and the general history of cancer treatment, but its lovely score, engaging performers and heartfelt story soon reassert themselves.
The subject matter may be challenging, especially if it elicits memories of your own loved ones’ struggles, but the nature of Night Side Songs ensures that it isn’t lonely. In those aforementioned instances of collective singing—about loss, endurance, happiness and care—the show movingly enacts how sharing hard experiences can be a powerful tool for togetherness, learning and healing. For a few precious minutes, we’re on the same side.
Night Side Songs. Claire Tow Theater (Off Broadway). By the Lazours. Developed Directed by Taibi Magar. With Brooke Ishibashi, Mary Testa, Jonathan Raviv, Robin de Jesús, Saint-Louis. Running time: 1hrs 35mins. No intermission.
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Night Side Songs | Photograph: Courtesy Marc J. Franklin
