This is the verbatim conversation I had with my husband when I asked if he wanted to watch the new London production of “Ordinary Days” with me:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Me: Wanna watch Ordinary Days<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Him: What’s that<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Me: It’s the show with that sad 9\/11 song<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Him: As opposed to a *happy* 9\/11 song?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So that’s what I knew about “Ordinary Days” going in – that it was the 2008 song-cycle-type show featuring, well, the 9\/11 song, called “I’ll Be Here”. Modern composer Adam Gwon’s famous song, the big 11 o’clock number in this show, has been making the cabaret\/concert rounds for several years. We knew it from Audra McDonald’s singing it in her concerts for a good 2-3 year period (obviously because we attended all of those concerts (my biggest achievement in life is that I saw Audra perform live for 15 years at least once a year (across three countries); I’m an Audra groupie)). The first time, she started singing this song and we were like ‘oh this is nice’ and then for the second half I was SOBBING like hyperventilating crying. The second time she introduced it and we were like ‘oh well at least we know what’s coming’ and yet we cried like it was the first time. The third time we just said ‘here we fucking go again’ and yep we f-ing went again. It’s that good, that expertly written that even when you know it, it breaks your heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While “I’ll Be Here” is the best song in the show, the show is still pretty great apart from it. “Ordinary Days” follows four New Yorkers (it’s an eight-hander), in two separate storylines that semi-connect at one point but subtly, not in a trite or hard to believe way. Jason (Will Arundell) and Claire (Nic Myers) are in an awkward stage of their relationship, moving in together but unable to really connect because Claire seems to be putting up barriers. Jason’s all ‘hey I’m just this Paul Scheer-plus-Jon-Cryer-when-he-has-a-beard-looking-mufuhka can you open up to me please so we can make this relationship work?” and Claire’s all “hey I’m just this Haley-Reinhairt-plus-my-husband’s-aunt-but-20-years-ago looking beeyotch and I have A PAST that I’M NOT READY TO TALK ABOUT.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the couple navigates their issues, we meet the ‘quirkier’ side characters of Deb (Bobbie Chambers), a graduate student working on a Virginia Woolf masters or something equally useless, and Warren (Joe Thompson-Oubari), a manic pixie quirky boy who wants his new friend to be more fun, I think. I like their budding friendship and the ways they push get each other, although their characterizations as written (all four’s, actually) can be a little inelegant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reminding me more than a few times of early Jason Robert Brown, Gwon’s music is impressive. It’s wonderful to hear a score that is so carefully honed, with smart, clever lyrics that are often laugh-out-loud funny. It’s wonderful to hear a score that I can’t describe as ‘pedestrian’ or ‘lackluster’ (no offense but it’s been a while). There are some aspects that are unclear – did Jason actually know that Claire was previously married?? that seems like something you share earlier – and some character structuring that reveals that the piece is from the 00’s. But overall, I really enjoyed it, and I’ll be listening to the score. The whole score, not just “I’ll Be Here”…well mostly that one, but not only that one. Hot damn it’s such a good song though. We listened to it five more times after the show ended and still cried.<\/p>\n\n\n\n