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For a jukebox musical set in 1965 New York City — that tackles feminism, civil rights activism and the Vietnam War — “A Sign of the Times” positive consists of numerous songs by the British singer Petula Clark. When the lead characters flip up at a party hosted by Randy Forthwall, an artsy sort in a silver-white fright wig (would Andy Schmarhol have been too on the nostril?), he even complains that Clark is a no-show.
She might not have made it to Randy’s shindig, however her hits are throughout this present, together with “Downtown,” “Color My World,” “I Know a Place,” “Don’t Sleep within the Subway,” “Round Every Corner” and the title monitor.
This is a head-scratching alternative as a result of the story — which revolves round a pleasant Midwesterner, Cindy (Chilina Kennedy), who desires of being a photographer within the large metropolis — is bodily, tonally and culturally distant from Clark’s light-pop universe.
It all begins making sense as you notice that when “A Sign of the Times” premiered at Goodspeed Opera House in 2016, with a e book by Bruce Vilanch, Clark’s title was put ahead in all of the descriptions. The present iteration, which is at New World Stages with a e book credited to Lindsey Hope Pearlman, properly realized a Petula Clark present won’t draw enormous crowds. It advertises itself extra generically, and there are many non-Clark songs, principally of the very, very acquainted form: “Rescue Me,” “Gimme Some Lovin’,” “Last Train to Clarksville” and so forth. (The present relies on an concept by Richard J. Robin, who can also be presenting this manufacturing in partnership with the York Theater Company.)
Sadly, the graft didn’t take. “A Sign of the Times” pulls each which manner, clumsily trumpeting inclusivity and empowerment whereas shoehorning in hits that may really feel chosen randomly, and with little regard for the motion’s date stamp since a number of songs got here out after 1965. Keeping us awake are some comically distracting particulars — by all means, search for what a yellow bandanna in the precise again pocket of a person’s denims meant in homosexual cruising circles — and choreography, by JoAnn M. Hunter, that basically recycles a handful of essentially the most primary strikes from the “Hullabaloo” selection present.
But again to our Ohio bumpkin. After dumping her casually sexist boyfriend, Matt (Justin Matthew Sargent), Cindy takes off for New York. Luckily for viewers members, her new roommate, the aspiring singer Tanya, is performed by the superb Crystal Lucas-Perry, a 2023 Tony nominee for “Ain’t No Mo’.” Lucas-Perry and Akron Lanier Watson, as Tanya’s activist boyfriend, preserve the present cooking. They even handle to beat the band’s slack backbeat, which undermines any try at zip or punch. (The music supervisor Joseph Church did the preparations and orchestrations; Britt Bonney is the music director.)
Less fortunate in love than Tanya, Cindy falls for Brian (Ryan Silverman), a slick advert man. After her pal warns her concerning the Madison Avenue form, Cindy replies, “But he’s precisely what I imagined a man from New York could be,” then launches into “Boy From New York City” — as a result of there isn’t a higher transition right into a tune than an apparent one.
Gabriel Barre’s manufacturing is pretty luxurious for an Off Broadway musical: Five leads and a 10-member ensemble is nothing to smell at these days. But filling a stage doesn’t robotically translate to filling an area. Even Petula Clark didn’t have a tune about that conundrum.
A Sign of the Times
At New World Stages, Manhattan; asignofthetimes.com. Running time: 2 hours half-hour.
