Five Guys Named Moe review

Five Guys Named Moe Review - Broadway musical

In addition to the main places like West End & Broadway, this musical was also shown in Chicago. We may assume that it is not as big as Tony or Olivier, but Joseph Jefferson’s Award is also an opportunity to celebrate its achievements, especially when it was nominated on it twice. It is a pity that a musical received none of these awards.

It was renewed in 2010 in Edinburgh and its subsequent resurrection in 2014/2015 were the re-done visions that staged also in Cleveland. Especially in the latter format, the main character was transferred from the 20th century to 21st, as well as a rethinking of arrangements of tunes were executed.

For all the time, production was marked with such musical awards: Laurence Olivier Award (1991) – 2 nominations and 2 victories; Tony Award (1992) – 2 nominations.

The juice of this musical is in the unity of performance of songs by its main actors – musicians. They are the protagonists – all of them carry same name Moe, as the musical is named after, although in the course of the story, they give different advices to a certain loser who drinks a lot, considering him a main part from the start. Incidentally, it is because of his indecision and the fact that he nothing really is, his girl abandoned him for good. This sad event he meets with a bottle once again. Some tiny thimbleful of magic adds and, as if by a magic wand, in front of him there are five musicians who are beginning to comfort and advise him, through the play on their musical instruments – flugelhorn, clarinet, saxophone, piano, drums, trombone, trumpet & bass. What is more remarkable in the production of this musical – Louis Jordan wrote for it a significant part of compositions. This person is now almost unknown, but he is the one who can be considered as the founder of the rock'n'roll genre, which was so explosively popularized by Elvis and other, less famous singers. Louis Jordan wrote the music, going away from the very popular classic jazz in 1940s – 1950s. Jazz as a genre rather tired everyone, with its eternal companion, blues that dragged the whole world into melancholic mood. So at the crossroads of mid-century, rock'n'roll starts in 1950–1960, and then in the 1970s and after – rock, the starting point for the explosion of which was not known to anyone especially before, a small town named Woodstock. Now, it is completely stuffed with museums of rock glory and is a place of pilgrimage, turning from a village.

Libretto disappears almost completely in the second part of the histrionics where musicians generally do only playing. Interestingly that leaving the auditorium, you really cannot remember even a single melody sounded from there, because they create a common halo of sound that stays with you as a light veil over several days, completely blurring its internal structure.

The very core that saves this musical with a weak libretto is the unity of musical band, where the general mood fully depends on the skills of each participant.
Last Update:April, 06th 2016