Back at their home-away-from-home at 54 Below for a five-night residency with an all-new show and a rotating self-described “Rogue’s Gallery of showtune punks,” Joe Iconis & Family: Meditations in an Emergency opened on July 30, and, as always, left me in need of more superlatives than there are in the English language to do justice to the extraordinary level of talent, creativity, fun, and humanity that he and the cast bring to the stage, around the house, and into the hearts of their devoted audience. Yes, it was all that and more. Way more.
The blow-out set list of sixteen original songs by the Tony-nominated writer, composer, and performer – whose many stage credits include Be More Chill, Love in Hate Nation, Broadway Bounty Hunter, and The Untitled Unauthorized Hunter S. Thompson Musical (which had its world premiere at La Jolla Playhouse last summer and is scheduled to make its DC debut at Signature Theatre next June 3-July 13) – included a selection of favorites from his musical theater and TV canon, stand-alone numbers, and new material in development, each one relaying a thoroughly captivating mini-narrative from the first-person perspective of a social outsider, trailblazer, or misfit, delving into their minds, exposing their feelings, and letting us understand their situations and motivations. As Iconis reminded us in his initial direct-address comments, “Listen to the lyrics.”
For his enthralling musical storytelling to come to life requires that, and artists who can bring their expressive voices and empathetic acting to the show. In addition to all his other gifts, Iconis, who opened with the titular “Meditations in an Emergency,” which he had decided to cut from the program because of its length but added back in, pensively and candidly musing about the current state of things, his life choices, and his “hard time in a weird space,” has a remarkable capacity for perfectly matching the songs and the characters to the performers – some long-time members of his chosen family who’ve appeared in his past musicals and concerts, and some newcomers to his ever-expanding circle, with whom he was rightfully impressed upon seeing them in other shows and consequently invited them to join him for this current extravaganza.
On the date I attended, the multi-talented cast, which changes nightly based on their availability, featured lead vocals by Jeremiah Alsop (July 30 & 31 only), Liz Lark Brown, Katrina Rose Dideriksen (July 30-August 1 & 3), John El-Jor, Danielle Gimbal (July 30), Ashley LaLonde, Lorinda Lisitza, Lauren Marcus, Jeremy Morse, Lance Rubin (July 30 & August 2-3), Brooke Shapiro (July 30-August 1), A.J. Shively, Jared Weiss, and Iconis, accompanied by back-up singers Sara Al-Bazali, Devon Meddock, and Amirah Joy Lomax, musicians Meddock, Jimmy O’Connell (July 30-August 1 & 3), Ian Kagey, Josh Plotner, Rob Rokicki, Mike Rosengarten, Brent Stranathan, and Iconis on piano, and for many of the numbers, the full company with their rich and resonant harmonies and joyous camaraderie.
Jason SweetTooth Williams, who was scheduled for the entire run, was suffering vocal strain, so couldn’t make it for opening night, but promises to be there for the remainder of the shows, even if he can’t sing. In his place was the surprise appearance of George Salazar (who needs no introduction but was jokingly introduced by Iconis as another famous Broadway star). Originally scheduled for August 1-3, he arrived from California at 5:30 am, and wowed the crowd with his sensational voice, signature sensitivity and heart, and irresistible personality on the deeply moving closing number “The Goodbye Song” from the TV series SMASH (usually sung by the equally affecting Williams).
That was not the only switch from the lead singers in previous Iconis & Family concerts. The Be More Chill meg-hit “Michael in the Bathroom” and “Song of the Brown Buffalo” from The Hunter S. Thompson Musical, generally sung and embodied by Salazar, were performed respectively by Alsop, who was supposed to play Michael in the COVID-cancelled Chicago production of the former, and El-Jor, who played the self-referencing Oscar Acosta in the La Jolla and New York Stage and Film readings of the latter. Both brought their impressive voices and set the right mood and emotions, as did Ashley LaLonde in the ambiguous “Broadway, Here I Come” from SMASH, capturing the self-destructive anxiety and pressures of the dream of a Broadway career.
Many of the songs take the names or identities of the characters expressing themselves in the personal lyrics, and all of the artists singing them transported us into their worlds as imagined by Iconis, from Dideriksen’s rocking “Rosalie” to Gimbal’s high notes in “Lydia’s Song” about a strange and unusual girl, Marcus’s sh-boom girl-group stylings and noted concern for the plight of women in “Jezebel,” Shapiro’s belting that “she won’t be coming home” in “The Prisoner’s Christmas Song,” and Lisitza’s riotously funny and frantic anger, jealousy, and screaming as “Helen Sharp,” inspired by the movie Death Becomes Her (which, despite the wildly entertaining song, has not been made into an Iconis musical).
Morse’s rendition of “Andy’s Song,” another film-related piece referencing The 40-Year-Old Virgin rom-com of 2005, had him playing the nerd, tap dancing, and laughably crying to the bouncy music, Shively’s at first humorous then progressively disturbing “Kevin” had him revealing the atrocious deed he would commit to overcome the horrible boredom of life in Brooklyn, and Rubin, feeling stuck in a cage as a Long Island “Amphibian,” had Iconis and the audience clapping and ribbeting along. Rounding out the show were Weiss’s anguished reflections on life in “Haddonfield, 15 Years Later (For Judith),” Brown’s creepy “Sympathy for the Killer,” becoming increasingly freaked out by a scary masked man or two, straight out of a horror film, and Iconis’s newly reworked version of The Hunter S. Thompson Musical’s “Wavesong,” encapsulating the counter-culture figure’s view of what we need (including “weed”), with the stirring sounds of “whoosh, crash.”
Through it all, the cast moved on and off the stage and around the house, in close contact with the audience, creating an intimate mood, bringing everyone into the stories, and making us feel a part of Iconis’s supremely entertaining and masterful family. And it didn’t end there. Following the blockbuster show, the cast greeted fans in the club, outside on the sidewalk, and at the West Bank Cafe/Laurie Beechman Theatre, where Iconis invited the audience to join them in his unfailing efforts to support the 46-year-old venue (with which he has a long history) and prevent it from closing, as was announced would happen in August. The fundraising campaign (organized by Tom D’Angora) is giving new hope to the popular theater community haunt to keep it afloat; if you’d like to contribute to the cause, click here.
You have four more chances this week to be immersed in the musical-theater brilliance of Joe Iconis & Family at 54 Below, when Philippe Arroyo (July 31 & August 1), Ali Louis Bourzgui (August 2), Molly Hager (August 1), Annie Golden (August 2-3), Morgan Siobhan Green (July 31-August 3), and Shakina Nayfack (July 31) will be among the featured performers. Get your tickets now, or put your name on the waiting list, for this incomparable up-close and personal cabaret experience that will leave you, too, in search of even more superlatives to describe it.
Running Time: Approximately 85 minutes, without intermission.
Joe Iconis & Family: Meditations in an Emergency plays through Saturday, August 3, 2024, 7 pm (doors open at 5:30) at 54 Below, 254 West 54th Street, cellar, NYC. For tickets (priced at $56.50-115.50, including fees, plus a $25 food/beverage minimum, per person), go online.
