Moby-Dick (2019 musical)

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Moby-Dick
Moby-Dick Cambridge playbill.png
Playbill for the Cambridge production
Music Dave Malloy
LyricsDave Malloy
Book Dave Malloy
Basis Moby-Dick
by Herman Melville
Productions2014 "The Ballad of Pip" at Joe's Pub
2019 American Museum of Natural History
2019 Cambridge

Moby-Dick is a musical in four parts with lyrics, music and book by Dave Malloy. An adaptation of the classic 1851 novel by Herman Melville, the musical made its world premiere in December 2019 at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts, directed by Rachel Chavkin. [1]

Contents

Production history

Part III: "The Ballad of Pip" was performed as a standalone jazz song-cycle at Joe's Pub on March 20, 2014. [2]

On July 26, 2019, and July 27, 2019, a 90-minute concert of excerpts from Moby-Dick was performed at the American Museum of Natural History, in the Milstein Hall of Ocean Life underneath the whale. [3]

The musical had its world premiere at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts on December 11, 2019, after one week of previews. [1]

Musical numbers

Cast

CharacterOriginal Cambridge Cast (2019) [4]
Ishmael Manik Choksi
Captain Ahab Tom Nelis
Father Mapple/Captain of the Albatross/Captain Boomer of the Bachelor/Captain Gardiner of the RachelDawn L. Troupe
Queequeg Andrew Cristi
FedallahEric Berryman
StarbuckStarr Busby
StubbKalyn West
FlaskAnna Ishida
TashtegoMatt Kizer
DaggooJ.D. Mollison
PipMorgan Siobhan Green
Sailor 1/The BlacksmithAshkon Davaran
Sailor 2/The CarpenterKim Blanck

Reception

The Cambridge production was generally well reviewed, with praise for the music and the work of scenic designer Mimi Lien in particular, while common criticisms included the 3+12-hour length and "The Ballad of Pip" section. Don Aucoin of the Boston Globe wrote that it was "ambitiously conceived and superbly executed ... if occasionally self-indulgent," [5] while Carolyn Clay of WBUR's ARTery called it "an extraordinary sum of diverse parts." [6] On the other hand, Christopher Caggiano of The Arts Fuse criticized the production for trying to adapt the entire book, and for "forcing" contemporary parallels. [7]

Related Research Articles

<i>Moby-Dick</i> 1851 novel by American writer Herman Melville

Moby-Dick; or, The Whale is an 1851 epic novel by American writer Herman Melville. The book is centered on the sailor Ishmael's narrative of the maniacal quest of Ahab, captain of the whaling ship Pequod, for vengeance against Moby Dick, the giant white sperm whale that bit off his leg on the ship's previous voyage. A contribution to the literature of the American Renaissance, Moby-Dick was published to mixed reviews, was a commercial failure, and was out of print at the time of the author's death in 1891. Its reputation as a Great American Novel was established only in the 20th century, after the 1919 centennial of its author's birth. William Faulkner said he wished he had written the book himself, and D. H. Lawrence called it "one of the strangest and most wonderful books in the world" and "the greatest book of the sea ever written". Its opening sentence, "Call me Ishmael", is among world literature's most famous.

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References

  1. 1 2 McPhee, Ryan (Dec 11, 2019). "World Premiere of Dave Malloy's Moby-Dick Musical Opens December 11 at the American Repertory Theater". Playbill . Retrieved December 26, 2019.
  2. "Dave Malloy's official website" . Retrieved January 22, 2020.
  3. Gans, Andrew (May 14, 2019). "Museum of Natural History to Present Excerpts From New Dave Malloy Musical, Moby-Dick". Playbill . Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  4. "Moby-Dick". American Repertory Theater . Retrieved December 26, 2019.
  5. Aucoin, Don (Dec 12, 2019). "A captivating 'Moby-Dick' that ripples through time". Boston Globe . Retrieved December 27, 2019.
  6. Clay, Carolyn (Dec 13, 2019). "In The A.R.T.'s Musical 'Moby-Dick,' The Whale Is An Extraordinary Sum Of Diverse Parts". WBUR-FM ARTery . Retrieved December 29, 2019.
  7. Caggiano, Christopher (Dec 20, 2019). "A Musical "Moby-Dick" Lumbers from its Seabed at the A.R.T." The Arts Fuse . Retrieved December 29, 2019.