A La Jolla Playhouse Commissioned World Premiere
It is obvious that La Jolla Playhouse has got the hang of introducing new work to the world, especially musicals. Their latest production, The Family Album, is a Playhouse commission and world premiere with history. It stems from a 2021 conversation that began with an EP precisely titled The Family Album, written by MILCK, Connie K. Lim, and AG Adrianne Gonzalez. Once Jess McLeod, along with Artistic Producing DirectorEric Keen-Louie, caught wind of their album and with MILCK having worked with celebrity and local Jason Mraz, ‘Family Album started its journey as a musical theatre piece.
Inspired by Lim’s family, Mia (Aury Krebs) is a talented, hustling, and struggling musician-songwriter who lives out of a suitcase, traveling between underpaid gigs. When she receives a phone call from her sister Charlotte (Courtney Reed) asking her to come home due to her mom being gravely ill in the hospital, Mia hesitates but gets on a plane anyway. Once back, the prickly family dynamic picks up where it left off with mom Sylvia (Jodi Long) and dad Henry (Paul Nakauchi) scolding Mia while swooning over he brother Daniel (Marc delaCruz), which I need to point out is a total cultural thing in many families, not just the Asian ones. Mia has always been vocal, but being back home, with all the memories built there palpable again, young Mia (Claire Kwon) shows up to resolve and heal.
With a book by Sam Chanse and story by Chanse, MILCK, and Jess McLeod, the piece has flow. Usually, new musicals aren’t as sturdy, but because most of the songs had already been part of an album and marinated to create additional ones for the musical, the sound, rhythm, and vibe are solid and fitting. Directed by Jess McLeod, music and lyrics by MILCK (Connie K. Lim) and AG (Adrianne Gonzalez), the music is very enjoyable, sparking conversation and reflection. Songs like Family’s Universal, What I Never Had, Restless, Dopamine Lottery, and Quiet stood out to me. The cast is also solid, with Aury Krebs leading with a fantastic, beautiful, raspy voice full of feeling, also having very powerful scenes with Claire Kwon as Young Mia, who also harmonized enchantingly. The 90-minute musical goes by fast, with the cast performing different roles and having an agile pace, mastering the different essences of the roles. Courtney Reed is hilarious with fantastic vocals; Marc delaCruz is sweet and balances the sibling dynamic well. The parents, Jodi Long and Paul Nakauchi, conveyed the roles well. Seeing this also prompted a reflection that I will share in the conclusion of this piece, but the two actors definitely stole the show when delivering the industry vibes of a hip record label.
Wilson Chin’s set design combines a music/concert venue with a childhood home living room, having a contrast that illustrates Mia’s different worlds. Same goes for Amanda Zieve’s lighting, using bright, colorful settings for the concert, dive, vibe versus a warm, calm look for the family scenes. Hahnji Jang (장한지)’s costumes also bring the duality, having the family in everyday ensembles consisting of slacks, sundresses, and sweaters while Mia has a grunge, edgy look and a couple of creative surprises that mesh perfectly.
Always great to see live music on stage courtesy of AG as orchestrator and arranger; Bryan Perri’s musical supervision along with Lyndon Pugeda’s musical direction.
The band is made up of Michael Sobie, conductor/keys; sub Taylor Peckham; Brian Dall on drums; Vince Cooper on guitar; Michael Pearce, bass/band contractor.
Electronic Music Design by Strange Cranium – Billy Jay Stein, Hiro Iida, Christopher Petti, and Jacob Rose with additional orchestrations by Emily Sherman and music copying by Kevin Leahy.
Going back to the conclusion I had mentioned, Eric Keen-Louie shares in the program that he had been talking forever about creating a piece about an Asian American family. I understand and respect that. I also get the hard work and time involved in producing something of this magnitude.
However, this lingered… and aside from the production and how I liked The Family Album, this prompted me to share the following reflection: I believe there is a generic tendency in American theatre to label/categorize ethnicities rather than the true power of the story and, therefore, its universality. I do not think there is mention of where the Bing family hails from. I gathered they were Chinese because of the dialogue in the kitchen about cooking ingredients. I also understand the beauty of subtlety and not having it all being spelled out, but then, for the sake of the label, shouldn’t specificity be honored? The United States is made up of immigrants: All the colors come from all parts of the world for hundreds of years, and obviously honoring the true native communities of this land. Maybe it is time to start letting go of these crutches to truly embrace the diversity of these stories in full without the segregation.
Solo mis dos centavos desde la perspectiva de una mexicana. Pensé en escribir esta reseña totalmente en español porque la obra sí tocó muchas fibras, hasta el punto de querer compartirla en mi idioma. Una de las maravillas del arte radica en la belleza de la percepción. Algo a lo que recurro a menudo al escribir estas reflexiones.
The Family Album is currently playing until August 23. Please note that Claire Kwon will play Young Mia until August 8 and Kendyl Sayuri Yokoyama will take over the role from August 9 until closing.
The stage manager for this production is Dean Remington, with assistant stage managers: Alexa Burn and Jack Ganguly.
