Review Roundup: Nick Blaemire’s SOON Opens Off-Broadway

Out of the Box Theatrics’ Off-Broadway premiere of Soon, a new musical by Nick Blaemire, directed by Will Blum, just celebrated its opening night at The Loft at St. Luke’s Theatre.

What do you do with the time you have left? While twenty-something Charlie waits for the end of the world, Jonah waits for her to start living. But before time runs out, Charlie must do the hardest thing imaginable: open the front door. Nick Blaemire’s Soon is an intimate, indie-pop chamber musical about finding the courage to pursue your dreams in an uncertain world.

Check out what critics are saying about the new musical…

Matthew Wexler, One-Minute Critic: The musical, under Will Blum’s direction, rarely moves beyond the lethargic pacing of its central couple, and one wonders what breakthrough Jonah hopes to achieve by smothering the emotionally distant Charlie with affection. Under-amplified vocals, even in the intimate Loft at St. Luke’s Theatre, get swallowed, which may be just as well when Steven and Jonah join forces to bar mitzvah the apartment goldfish. Soon grapples with both the existential and practical side of dying. But its perspective on living rarely resonates emotionally. Even the fish wants out.

Matt Barton, The Stage: Nostalgia will only carry you so far. What this piece needs is a substantial story, but Owen gives us little insight into the characters, or any sense of them responding to the sociopolitical tremors gripping the city at the time, beyond a cursory opening reference to Labour’s resurgence. So for all Spin Jim tells us that “it’s a time of shift, and you can feel it in the air”, there’s no electricity.

Joe Dziemianowicz, New York Theatre Guide: Blaemire hasn’t drawn these characters with much depth. They basically get one trait apiece: There’s anxious Charlie, sincere Jonah, over-the-top Steven, and self-obsessed Adrienne. Director Will Blum’s fine quartet makes the most of the musical material, and Delaney’s voice is an ideal showcase for Blaemire’s music.

Suzanna Bowling, Times Square Chronicles: What initially feels like a wonderfully offbeat musical about a young woman hiding from an approaching apocalypse slowly deepens without announcing that it is doing so. Blaemire allows us to laugh. He allows us to become comfortable with Charlie’s peculiar little existence. We become accustomed to the couch, the peanut butter, the fish, the increasingly unbearable heat and the parade of people trying to get Charlie to participate in life. Then the emotional ground begins to move.

Average Rating: 57.5%

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