Importance Score: 45 / 100 🔵
The musical “Floyd Collins,” now receiving a sonically rich revival at Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theater, tells a story sharply divided into two distinct parts. This critically acclaimed piece explores the true saga of Floyd Collins, an ambitious American caver who became trapped in a Kentucky cave in 1925, sparking a national media sensation. The production highlights a potent contrast between the confining, frigid underground chamber and chaotic, opportunistic spectacle unfolding in the above-ground community.
Exploring the Floyd Collins Story
The narrative centers on Floyd Collins, portrayed by Jeremy Jordan, who possesses a genuinely exceptional tenor voice. Floyd becomes entangled underground after a rock collapse seals his passage. Meanwhile, the world above transforms his harrowing predicament into a media circus, where various individuals seek to exploit the situation for their own gain. This timeless theme, the juxtaposition of personal suffering and public exploitation, provides a robust dramatic foundation, making the story undeniably relevant even today.
A Musical Divided: Score vs. Script
“Floyd Collins,” composed by Adam Guettel with a book and lyrics by Tina Landau, presents a compelling tale. However, the Broadway production feels like a musical split in two, and unfortunately, not always to its benefit. While Guettel’s elevated 1996 score is largely praised, Landau’s book receives less favorable attention.
Adam Guettel’s Captivating Score
Adam Guettel’s score is a standout element of this production. His music infuses the damp, guano-laden underground chamber with unforeseen poignancy and captivating charm, much like Ennio Morricone’s scores defined the cinematic American frontier. As the 37-year-old Floyd’s situation transforms from an initial sense of wonder to a grim reality, his songs also evolve. Jubilant vocalizations and folksy melodies gradually yield to hopeful diversions and imaginative escapes, reflecting Floyd’s internal journey. Despite his dire circumstances, Floyd finds solace in the knowledge that he was pursuing his passion—Cave exploration. Guettel’s luxuriant early work, though occasionally featuring lyrics leaning towards folksy simplicity, provides ample reason to experience this seldom-staged production.
Tina Landau’s Simplistic Book
Conversely, the musical’s less compelling component is Tina Landau’s script and writing, criticized here as contrived. Similar to other history-based musicals from the 1990s, the book portrays characters not as complex, empathetic individuals, but rather as functional representatives of thematic concepts. This approach means that despite being acoustically magnificent and aesthetically pleasing, the musical lacks genuine emotional resonance. Audiences are drawn in by the score but often feel distanced by the underdeveloped writing.
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The portrayals of both the 1920s Kentuckians and the intrusive city dwellers are reduced to such fundamental archetypes that they feel underdeveloped and unconvincing, like characters boiled down too much their essence.
Key Performances
The cast navigates the material with varying success.
Challenges for Supporting Characters
Characters like Nellie Collins (Lizzy McAlpine), recently released from a psychiatric facility, and father Lee (Marc Kudisch), marked by trauma and laden with parental remorse, are afforded limited opportunity for deep expression. Their significant numbers, “Through the Mountain” and “Heart and Hand,” respectively, seem deficient in theatrical impact. In the case of Kudisch’s duet with Jessica Molaskey’s Miss Jane, the setting at the vast Vivian Beaumont Theater feels ill-suited,akin to staging an intimate drama in a large arena. Lizzy McAlpine, making her Broadway debut, brings a pleasant folk quality to her voice but does not yet fully embody the complexities of the role.
Compelling Leads
The most compelling individuals navigate both environments: the hopeful Homer Collins (Jason Gotay) and the scrappy reporter Skeets Miller (Taylor Trensch). They traverse narrow passages in Sand Cave to visit Floyd while also observing the commotion above ground. Taylor Trensch delivers an emotionally vulnerable performance as Skeets Miller, grappling with ethical dilemmas as his career ambitions rise alongside his personal responsibility towards a friend in peril. A consistently captivating performer, Trensch establishes a discernable connection with Jeremy Jordan’s Floyd, who initially relishes his newfound renown before ultimately yearning for companionship.
Jordan himself delivers a strong recovery following last season’s overly stylized “The Great Gatsby.” Here, his tenor voice is genuinely exceptional, uncovering complexities in a character with limited narrative detail. This performance signals a maturation, suggesting he has moved beyond his previous signature roles and shows promise for future parts requiring depth and charisma.
Direction and Overall Assessment
Not all aspects of Tina Landau’s staging warrant critique; reserve harsh judgment for other productions. Her direction is replete with memorable visual moments, especially considering the demands of the vast and relatively unadorned stage. While it is limiting that Jordan remains confined to a specific spot downstage right for most of the performance, this staging choice realistically reflects that a character immobilized by fallen debris is physically restricted. However, the production would benefit significantly if Landau had revised the script to feature more nuanced characters, as Guettel’s score warrants better writing.
Perhaps one day the musical will achieve this balance. However, being less optimistic, the reviewer imagines that, paralleling Floyd’s fate, the musical’s state nearly three decades after its initial run shows little sign of significant change or improvement.
The musical performance runs for two hours and 35 minutes, including one intermission, at the Vivian Beaumont Theater, located at 150 West 65th Street.