Music Theatre of Connecticut opens its 40th Anniversary Season with the Connecticut professional regional premiere of Harmony, featuring music by Barry Manilow and a book and lyrics by Bruce Sussman. Based on a true story, the musical follows the Comedian Harmonists, six young men who rose from obscurity in 1920s Berlin to become one of the most successful musical acts in the world. Their tight harmonies, elaborate comedy routines, films, recordings, and international tours made them famous. They had no idea that history was preparing to erase nearly every trace of them.
The story is told by Rabbi, the group’s last surviving member, as he looks back on the friends he once knew. Frank Mastrone brings considerable weight to the older Rabbi, carrying decades of memory and regret while watching his younger self’s story unfold. Constantine Pappas, an original member of the Broadway company, is outstanding as Young Rabbi. Together, they make the musical feel less like a history lesson and more like one man returning to the happiest and most painful years of his life.
Harry assembles the group from an assortment of wildly different men: a doctor, a pianist who has been playing in a brothel, a bass recruited from the opera, and several other performers willing to take a chance on an unusual idea. Jeff Raab, Cameron Edris, Michael Alonzo, Christian Libonati, Dominic Pagliaro, and Pappas create a wonderfully connected group. Their vocals are gorgeous, but their comic timing is nearly as important. Under Chris McNiff’s choreography, they move with the precision of men who have spent years learning one another’s rhythms, even when the story has only recently brought them together.
Comedy quickly becomes as essential to the Comedian Harmonists as their extraordinary singing. The group discovers how physical comedy, visual surprises, and their willingness to look completely ridiculous can turn a performance into a sensation. Their increasingly elaborate routines are tremendous fun, and Kevin Connors and McNiff allow the humor to become stranger and more pointed as the world around them changes.
The two central love stories give the musical an emotional life beyond the group. Jazmin Gorsline is especially lovely in Mary’s early scenes with Young Rabbi, including her story about slipping buttons into the collection he had put out while singing so he would notice her. Their relationship carries a tenderness that becomes increasingly moving as the danger around them grows. Michelle Pauker gives Ruth a completely different kind of determination. Ruth is politically outspoken and refuses to pretend that the changes happening around them can be ignored. “Where You Go,” shared by Mary and Ruth, is one of the production’s most beautiful moments.
Connors allows the first act to revel in auditions, disastrous performances, weddings, and worldwide success before the political danger begins closing in around the men. The shift is gradual but unmistakable. Casual encounters become threatening, familiar language begins to change, and performers once celebrated across Europe find their identities being used against them. Manilow’s score and Sussman’s book transform a lively backstage musical into something far darker.
That history carries an uncomfortable resonance in the United States right now. The production never needs to force the comparison because the language of nationalism, censorship, forced conformity, and loyalty to one leader speaks loudly enough. Watching artists debate whether to remain quiet, leave their country, or fight back makes the musical feel frighteningly immediate.
Diane Vanderkroef’s costumes are excellent throughout, especially during the group’s comic routines, and Sean Sanford’s scenic design allows the production to move quickly from Berlin clubs to Carnegie Hall, political rallies, film sets, and trains. Zachary Anderson leads a rich orchestration that occasionally overpowers the singers in MTC’s intimate space, but the close harmonies remain the musical center of the production.
The final sequence is beautifully constructed, stripping away the spectacle until Older Rabbi is left to reckon with the memories he has carried for decades. It is restrained and crushing. The Comedian Harmonists were pushed out of public memory, but Harmony returns their music, laughter, and humanity to the stage.
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Harmony plays through September 27 at MTC MainStage
509 Westport Avenue
Norwalk, Connecticut
For tickets and information:
CAST & CREATIVE:
Barry Manilow - Music
Bruce Sussman - Book and Lyrics
Kevin Connors - Director
Zachary Anderson - Music Director
Chris McNiff - Choreographer
Sean Sanford - Scenic Designer
Diane Vanderkroef - Costume Designer
Jac-que Robinson - Lighting Designer
Brian Salvia - Sound Designer
Dan O’Driscoll - Intimacy Director
Lauren Weglian - Props Master
Lou Ursone - Stage Manager
Alex Mongillo - Production Photography
Michael Alonzo - Chopin
Helen Clare - Rosa and Others
Cameron Edris - Erich/Dance Captain
Jazmin Gorsline - Mary
Quinlyn Kessler - Clara and Others
Christian Libonati - Lesh
Matt Mancuso - Standartenführer
Frank Mastrone - Rabbi
Dominic Pagliaro - Bobby
Constantine Pappas - Young Rabbi
Michelle Pauker - Ruth
Robert Peterpaul - Fritz/Ezra and Others
Jeff Raab - Harry
Joseph Torello - Titus/Obersturmführer