Ouch!

Hey, I wasn't crazy about the three-song demo I got but I was still intrigued by the premise of this show, partly because it was championed and funded solely by Joe Brooks, but mostly because it involved Tourette's Syndrome and OCD and advertising jingles. But the critics have outdone themselves in condemning it. Now I've got to see it!

Here's a selection from the Broadway.com article:

People have been buzzing about In My Life, the new musical written and directed by Joseph Brooks (a Broadway newcomer best known for writing the song "You Light Up My Life" and a host of advertising jingles) for weeks. On October 20, when the show officially opened at the Music Box Theatre, it was time for critics to make their thoughts public. Did the show light up their lives?

Here is a sampling of what they had to say:

William Stevenson in his Broadway.com Review: "It's hard to describe Joe Brooks' In My Life, except to say that it is undoubtedly the most bizarre, misguided Broadway musical of the millennium. Part love story, part parody, part opera, the schizophrenic show is one of those you-have-to-see-it-to-believe-it experiences. To his credit, Hanke doesn't aim for maximum volume during his ballads but lends them a sweet, sincere quality. His Tourette tics and outbursts are appropriately jarring. As the over-the-top Winston, Turner offers occasional comic relief, and most of his funny lines are apparently ones he improvised during rehearsals. On the other hand, Boevers' singing is underwhelming, and Farina's jingles take only seconds to become grating. The big-lunged Navarra, meanwhile, seems to think she's competing on American Idol."

Ben Brantley of The New York Times: "It's true that In My Life does have a few jaw-dropping moments of whimsy run amok... But it becomes clear early on that beneath the swirling madcap flourishes and willful tastelessness lies a small pink candy heart, of the kind that schoolchildren exchange on Valentine's Day, with phrases like "U R 2 sweet" inscribed on them. To describe the logic-free, ontology-embracing plot of In My Life may make it sound like a grotesque folie de grandeur. Boy meets girl; boy gets brain tumor; boy's dead sister intervenes with God, while angels roam around a big room filled with silver filing cabinets (that's heaven) and occasionally put on lavish period costumes to perform mock operas. But the careering story line and its bizarre accouterments are merely an excuse to deliver inspirational messages that are commonly found on television movies of the week and to trot out one sticky boy-band-style ballad after another."

Clive Barnes of The New York Post: "Any musical featuring a hero with Tourette's syndrome and an ad-jingle composer called Al (who's wisely kept his day job as God) sounds distinctly unpromising. And Joseph Brooks' musical In My Life, which opened last night at The Music Box, fulfills every unpromise possible. Brooks' music is tedious and his lyrics sentimentally simplistic -- this from a man who's sold 80 million records. Perhaps he should have stopped while he was ahead. By the way, a fruit the show makes emblematic of J.T. and Jenny's happiness is...a lemon. Say no more."

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