Review of “Empire: The Musical” – New York’s most famous building is accompanied by music

Read our review of Empire: The Musical Off-Broadway, a world premiere about the construction of the Empire State Building, now playing at New World Stages.

It is significant that Empire: The Musical premieres while the world seems to be in free fall. There’s no control over when a show premieres, but this one has a touch of irony: Rich is set largely during the Great Depression, and its emotional arc revolves around the justification of a gigantic tower as a symbol of hope rather than, as one character points out, investing in community.

Politicians in real life do the same thing, they put profit above people. But, hey, in Empire: The Musicaljust knock your feet out of financial ruin and push your workers to build two floors a day and you will actually have a big glimmer of hope.

The construction of the Empire State Building, for all its flaws, makes for great material for the stage, as long as the show knows how to handle the scale of the effort. Empire: The Musical attempts to commemorate the five workers who lost their lives during construction while also highlighting the Native Americans involved during construction, but it lacks precision and fun.

Too many characters are left undeveloped, and the show’s focus on making Secretary “Wally” Wolodsky a proto-feminist manager for architect Charles Kinney (Albert Guerzon) and politician Al Smith (Paul Savatoriello) falls flat when Wally’s actual role is revealed in the final act.

Sylvie, an indigenous woman from 1976, interacts with characters in the 1930s, but she acts less as narrative glue and more as a mouthpiece, pointing out any alleged problems with the project without weaving those problems into the way the characters interact or the story unfolds.

While the show repeatedly hints at a better version of itself – and ponders what it means when politicians invest so much in symbols rather than in their electorate – Empire: The Musical clings to the more cumbersome ideas.

Empire: The Musical Summary

As the United States celebrates its bicentennial, a dispute between Sylvie (played by Julia Louise Hosack in my imagination) and her daughter Rayne (Kiana Kabeary) reopens old wounds in the family’s history. Rayne’s desire to enter the construction business leads Sylvie to investigate her family’s role in the construction of the Empire State Building under the direction of Frances Belle “Wally” Wolodsky (Kaitlyn Davidson).

Flanking Wally are a band of immigrant workers who risk their lives hoisting giant steel beams and dreaming of being like the Mohawk Skywalkers, as well as the politicians and industrialists who want to build New York’s newest dream tower in the midst of the Great Depression.

What to expect at Empire: The Musical

Although Jamie Roderick’s lighting and Walt Spangler’s set design do their best to remind the audience of the iconic silhouettes of steelworkers balancing on those giant beams, the rest of the show can’t match the ingenuity of the engineering. Lorna Ventura’s choreography is impressive in places, but at times feels a little lost, as it’s not clear where the audience is supposed to be looking.

While the show’s subject matter is certainly interesting, it’s the book and lyrics by Caroline Sherman and Robert Hull that feel more like the blueprint for the undertaking than the finished monument. The impulse to work in a pastiche style, mimicking era music with echoes of George Gershwin and Cole Porter throughout the libretto, isn’t a bad idea, but the music and lyrics don’t do much to distinguish themselves as unique to the project. Too many rhymes feel underdeveloped, and although one of the steelworkers is credited as the group’s poet, few moments of the book and score could be described as such.

What the audience says about Empire: The Musical

Rich has an audience approval rating of 69% on ShowScore at the time of publication.

• Show Score user Gary 9013 says, “Watch it if you have the patience to put up with a poorly written book and mediocre songs. The cast is great.”
• Show score user DOUG Rob NYC described the show as “Relevant, great staging, great singing, entertaining, delightful”
• Show Score user Moica Wolfson’s review read: “Couldn’t follow the plot, slow, gripping, entertaining, confusing”

Read more audience reviews from Empire: The Musical on show score.

Who should see it Empire: The Musical

• People interested in the history of the Empire State Building might be intrigued by this historical fiction version.
• Fans of Cady Huffman, the Tony Award-winning actress who originated the role of Ulla in The producerswill be excited about her work as a director.
• For an audience interested in New York history, the story is interesting because this musical theater piece mythologizes a New York City landmark.

Learn more about Empire: The Musical off Broadway

Empire: The Musical attempts to tell the story of one of the most famous buildings of all time while reconciling its purpose with the original intentions of the industrialists who dreamt up the project. But a mediocre book and mediocre writing make it less comparable to its steel and concrete namesake and more of a souvenir version.

Learn more and get Empire: The Musical Tickets at New York Theatre Guide. Empire: The Musical runs until September 22nd at New World Stages.

Photo credit: Empire: The Musical Off Broadway. (Photos by Matthew Murphy)