Claire Tow Theater

Theater review by Tim Teeman  When you enter the Claire Tow Theater to see Night Side Songs, a welcoming cast member provides you with a songbook so that you can join along when prevailed upon to sing. If you’re the kind of person who freezes with horror at the very mention of audience participation, fear not: The spotlight will never fall on you. The scattered moments of group song that emerge as the heart of the show are entirely communal. This original musical, which features text and a folk score by the brothers Daniel and Patrick Lazour (We Live in Cairo) and was developed with director Taibi Magar, is about living in the shadow of terminal illness. Drawn from real-life testimonies of patients, caregivers, doctors and nurses, the show focuses on the experience of Yasmine (Brooke Ishibashi), joining her on a physical and emotional rollercoaster that begins with the shock of her cancer diagnosis. Along for the ride are Yasmine’s quirky, supportive husband (Jonathan Raviv), her gay doctor and former eighth-grade crush (Robin de Jesús), her nurse (Kris Saint-Louis) and her impossible but fiercely loving mom (Mary Testa, commanding as ever). Alex Bechtel supplies precise musical direction and piano arrangements; Justin Stasiw’s sound design and Amith Chandrashaker’s lighting—which includes a stunning circular orb of empty bottles—are also impressive. Night Side Songs | Photograph: Courtesy Marc J. Franklin Night Side Songs takes its title from a line in Susan Sontag’s...