Yank!

Seeing a new musical in its development cycle is something relatively new to me.  While I’ve seen things at Playwrights Horizons & Second Stage, I’ve never seen one so clearly still being worked on.  In fact, apparently during the run at the York Theatre Company, a song was dropped.

Yank! A WWII Love Story (as so printed on the ticket, so spoiler-phobes beware) is ultimately about a young man come to terms with being gay while serving in the military during World War II, and does indeed fall in love.  Given that the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” hearings are ongoing and a major political plot point in the news, its not all that surprising that someone (or some people as they case in fact is) has written a musical about someone who was gay in the military.

And the show does tell a story that needs to be illustrated.  There are so many in-jokes and references, the apparent immersion of gay men and lesbians (at least notably) into the armed forces during a rough period in the country’s history is almost presented as a necessity to get things accomplished.  As constructed by brothers Joe and David Zelnick, the musical does what it sets out to do, albeit with more than a few rough patches.

First and foremost, the pacing is very 1940′s.  It moves quite slowly, and I was shocked to find out that the first act was only eighty minutes (which is fairly standard).  While I found it to be enjoyable and moving, it felt glacially slow.  Most of the songs are in lieu of dialogue to move plot & character shading along, and could be replaced with some written dialogue or tweaked to feel a bit more fluid.

As the show is clearly still being worked on (that whole dropped song thing and some of the earlier production photos don’t match with the current production), I expect a few more changes in the show’s next iteration.  I’m hoping they drop or completely re-work the nearing-the-climax “Just True”.  It felt really wonky to me, and should have been a great romantic duet, but it felt so awkward.  Also needing to be removed is a dream ballet.  While I generally appreciate ballet and this one was excellently choreographed, a ballet at a climactic moment featuring alternate performers just takes the wind out of the dramatic flow.  And it really did that here.  I get the emotional resonance, but it simply is a dated concept that doesn’t quite work anymore.

Buoying and anchoring the show is an incredible performance by Bobby Steggert as Stu.  As excellent as he was in Ragtime, here he gets a leading role with a lot of meat and nuance to perform.  The gentleness of his performance was excellent, and he was everything a truly great performer is: emotional, moving, engaging, and charismatic.  The emotional breakdown at the end was so powerful, so incredible, it was hard to breathe, and even harder not to be caught up in his emotions.  Even Steggert was still physically overwhelmed during the curtain call, still very much teary and trembling.  He’s an adorable performer, and I very much look forward to his long and exceptional career.

Also of note is Jeffrey Denman, playing the erstwhile sage Artie, who not only helps cull out Stu’s sexual awakening, but delivers a nuanced portrayal of someone working his way through his own life.  And he did an excellent job choreographing the show.

Steggert’s romantic foil is Ivan Hernandez’s Mitch.  I’ve seen Hernandez before, and he’s cast here as Monty Clift.  Something seems off in his performance.  It comes a bit too easily, and doesn’t quite match the emotional tenor of the rest of the cast.  Not that he’s bad, per say, just uneven in comparison.

The rest of the cast is generally quite good.  The standard cast of army characters – Polish Brooklynite, Tennessee hick, hungry Italian, smart guy, queeny secretaries, butch general’s assistant – are all there, and do justice to the roles they have to play.  Nancy Anderson gives a lovely set of performances as she shifts through about a half dozen different roles (of generally unnamed women).

Overall, the dynamic central performance Bobby Steggert gives more than makes up for any shortcomings the show has, and I actively look forward to future iterations of Yank!  In the meantime, I’ll just dream of Steggert.  Apparently a dream husband despite my general disinterest in such skinny guys, adorable nonetheless.

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