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Emojiland The Musical

Theater, Musicals Duke on 42nd Street , Midtown West Tuesday February 4 2020 - Thursday March 19 2020
3 out of 5 stars
The cast of Emojiland
Photograph: Courtesy Jeremy Daniel

Time Out says

3 out of 5 stars

Theater review by Raven Snook 

Keith Harrison and Laura Schein's over-the-top musical comedy Emojiland aims for 🤣but inspires 🙂at best. Inside a smartphone, bedazzled diva Princess (Lesli Margherita) and her digital denizens are excited to greet their annual update. But two new arrivals, Prince (Josh Lamon) and Nerd Face (George Abud), disrupt their superficially happy texistence, sparking romantic and societal crises.

A hit at the 2018 New York Musical Festival (R.I.P.), the show has gotten a major cast upgrade. Under Thomas Caruso's broad direction, an impressive roster of Broadway favorites give their all to the middling material. Margherita and Lamon, who have been with the project from the beginning, lean into camp as a pair of narcissistic tyrants who rap and belt with abandon. Abud's Nerd Face is an affable underdog who nails pop power ballads while saving the cyberworld and wooing Smize (cowriter Schein). As the dangerously depressive Skull, Lucas Steele is a goth dreamboat who croons Radiohead-style odes to death.  Disappointingly, however, the brilliant Ann Harada is wasted as Pile of Poo; her single scene is a real number two.

With 16 musical numbers, dozens of characters, three main plot lines (including a heavy-handed political one about building a firewall) and a running time of well over two hours, Emojiland is a case of more-is-way-too-much—especially since the cyber-silliness isn't that well scripted. Thankfully, its good old-fashioned analog performances prevent the show from crashing.

Duke on 42nd Street (Off Broadway). Book, music and lyrics by Keith Harrison and Laura Schein. Directed by Thomas Caruso. With ensemble cast. Running time: 2hrs 20mins. One intermission.

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By: Raven Snook

Posted:

Details

Venue name: Duke on 42nd Street
Address: 229 W 42nd St
New York
10036
Cross street: between Seventh and Eighth Aves
Transport: Subway: A, C, E to 42nd St–Port Authority; N, Q, R, 42nd St S, 1, 2, 3, 7 to 42nd St–Times Sq
Price: $56–$196

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