In My Life (review)

Perhaps a slight case of hubris drove Joseph Brooks to produce and direct In My Life after writing its book, lyrics, and music. While the failure of the production hardly rises to the level of classical tragedy, there is something remotely tragic in the musical's contribution to trends exploiting contemporary interest in mental illness and disability, while failing utterly to dignify their complexities. Widely touted as a love story between a songwriter with Tourette's syndrome and a journalist with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), the musical relies upon sentimentalized stereotyping of these conditions while indulging in every overwrought spectacle availed the Broadway musical.

Jessica Boevers plays Jenny, whose journalism takes the form of editing personals for The Village Voice. Jenny's obsession seems a predilection for self-deprecation; her only compulsion appears to be a perpetual cheerfulness toward others. Christopher Hanke plays J. T., her love interest, whose preoccupations with routine make him appear the one inclined towards OCD. To the actor's credit, he handles the dialogue written to indicate Tourette's syndrome with basic sensitivity, capturing something of the bodily tensions and facial mannerisms of a person unable to control what comes out of his mouth. Both Hanke and Boevers possess ample singing and acting abilities; even in their capable hands, however, the presumed afflictions of their characters rise only to a level of charming quirkiness and only when most convenient to the plotline. Such a dynamic reveals much about the true ambitions of In My Life, despite a marketing strategy teasing audiences with the idea that Tourette's syndrome and OCD might really propel a Broadway musical.

Joseph Brooks's son did cope temporarily with Tourette's syndrome, but the play's basis in autobiography does not end there. While distinguishing himself with accomplishments as notable as the Academy Award–winning song "You Light Up My Life," Brooks proved particularly prolific as a writer of commercial jingles. Boasting Pepsi and Coke, RCA, Dial Soap, and American Airlines among others, the list of Brooks's commercials reads like a Who's Who of corporate America. His musical hinges upon the premise that God, who goes by the name "Al" (Michael J. Farina), desires an opera based upon J. T. and Jenny's relationship. While he leaves much of the preliminary work to Winston (David Turner), when Al does explore song possibilities himself, one of Brooks's jingles provides the inspiration. Having God sing the Dr. Pepper jingle makes a rather clear statement about Brooks's place in the world of music, albeit with a healthy tongue-in-cheek quality. Farina brings an affable understatement in his interpretation of a plump and casually attired Supreme Being who rides a bicycle to pass the time. Consistent with an overall maniacal approach to the character's flamboyance, Turner's Winston mocks every excess of highbrow artistic pretense. Despite his initial disdain for Al's jingle, Winston, and by extension the audience, eventually comes to delight in the place where the elevated and classical intersect with the familiar and popular.

Like the blend of divergent styles of music, the movement between heaven and earth enables an array of possibilities to shed light on the play's central couple. J. T.'s younger sister, Vera (Chiara Navarra), who died when hit by a car, provides the play's narration, giving constant assurance that her brother is highly deserving of love. Similarly, though remaining among the living, Samantha (Laura Jordan) functions as both confidant and foil to Jenny. As amplified by Jordan's performance, Samantha's guise as outrageous extrovert throws into relief Jenny's lack of confidence. However (as is so often the case in such a contrived storyline), this bold exterior proves but a cover for private torment. Jenny grieves for her late boyfriend Nick (Michael Halling), who now resides in heaven despite the fact that he drove the car that took little Vera's life. When he finally emerges...