\n<\/p>\n
It\u2019s 2024, and Huey Lewis is having a moment<\/a>. Just let that sink in.<\/p>\n Lewis was an unexpected highlight of the recent Netflix documentary \u201cThe Greatest Night in Pop,\u201d<\/a> about the star-studded 1985 session where \u201cWe Are the World\u201d was recorded. An everyman rocker, Lewis was amazed (and still is) that he was rubbing elbows with Michael Jackson, Bob Dylan, Tina Turner and Bruce Springsteen. He even got to sing the part originally intended for Prince.<\/p>\n Now comes the new Broadway show \u201cThe Heart of Rock and Roll,\u201d<\/a> which is not so much a Huey Lewis (and the News) musical as the Huey Lewis of musicals: not taking itself too seriously, doing what it does well, and just happy to be on Broadway, keeping company with starrier productions.<\/p>\n Like most jukeboxes, \u201cThe Heart of Rock and Roll\u201d shoehorns big hits, including \u201cThe Power of Love\u201d and \u201cStuck With You,\u201d with lesser-known tracks into a plot generic enough to accommodate them.<\/p>\n Set in 1987, Jonathan A. Abrams\u2019s book, based on a story by Tyler Mitchell and Abrams, centers on Bobby (Corey Cott, from the underrated \u201cBandstand\u201d), an employee at an ailing cardboard box manufacturer, Stone Incorporated, in Milwaukee. Bobby works on the assembly line, but he really wants to join the sales department so he can \u201cBe Someone,\u201d as the show\u2019s new song puts it. Wait, no, maybe what he really wants is to rock out with his old band, the Loop. Bobby might sing \u201cIt\u2019s Hip to Be Square,\u201d but deep down, does he really believe it?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n By now you might have noticed that dreams play a big part in \u201cThe Heart of Rock and Roll.\u201d There are numerous references to chasing the dream, making it come true and living it, but also giving it up. Sentimentality is often ladled out, along with clich\u00e9s. And Bobby, whose sole personality trait appears to be \u201cgood guy,\u201d carries more than his share of both \u2014 he hears the fateful siren call \u201cone last show\u201d and lugs emotional baggage related to his \u201cold man.\u201d At least Cott gives Bobby a laid-back charm<\/a> that\u2019s not unlike Lewis\u2019s own, along with his emotional big Act II aria, \u201cThe Only One.\u201d<\/p>\n Fortunately, there is also enough good-natured goofball humor to keep Gordon Greenberg\u2019s production from sinking into cloying goo. Much of the levity comes from amusing supporting characters, starting with Bobby\u2019s love interest and his boss\u2019s daughter, Cassandra (McKenzie Kurtz, a recent Glinda in \u201cWicked\u201d). She is an uber-dork with a fondness for spreadsheets, and Kurtz\u2019s Cassandra is a daffy delight that recalls Annaleigh Ashford\u2019s performance in \u201cKinky Boots.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n That is not the only time \u201cThe Heart of Rock and Roll\u201d brings to mind that hit, which is also set at a factory. Like Jerry Mitchell\u2019s in the earlier show, Lorin Latarro\u2019s high-energy choreography here makes clever use of props, having employees slide on cardboard sheets and deploying the ensemble in a number that involves jumping on Bubble Wrap.<\/p>\n That scene takes place at a packaging convention, where Stone Inc. is trying to drum up business. For obscure reasons, the company\u2019s sensible head of H.R., Roz (a wonderfully droll Tamika Lawrence), has tagged along. She, too, had to make a life-changing decision once \u2014 \u201cand it\u2019s a good thing,\u201d Roz dryly quips, \u201cbecause otherwise I never would have found the unbridled joy of \u2018human resources.\u2019\u201d (This sets up the best plot twist, which comes at the very end.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Naturally, nice Midwesterners need a wicked antagonist, preferably of the putting-on-airs kind (a big no-no in the Huey Lewis universe). And here the show over-delivers thanks to the loose-limbed physical-comedy ace Billy Harrigan Tighe and his memorable performance as Tucker, Cassandra\u2019s cocky finance-bro ex. In the number \u201cGive Me the Keys (And I\u2019ll Drive You Crazy),\u201d he and his old Princeton a cappella group, the Undertones, invite Cassandra for a ride in a pretend car. The moment when Kurtz mimes opening the door and Tighe mimes rolling down the window is a strong contender for single funniest scene of the Broadway spring.<\/p>\n While the dialogue has occasional pop, it\u2019s the performances that keep the show rolling, along with Greenberg and Latarro\u2019s fast-paced, resourceful staging. Bobby\u2019s \u201cI Want a New Drug,\u201d for example, is an economical summary of why many men join rock bands: In his hotel room at the convention, just as he pulls out his beloved guitar, handling it like a holy relic, three women magically emerge from inside the bed \u2014 in a nifty touch, their outfits are stylized representations of Bobby\u2019s axe. (The costumes are by Jen Caprio.)<\/p>\n \u201cThe Heart of Rock and Roll\u201d is not going to be the subject of think pieces and graduate theses, but its easygoing good spirits are bolstered by solid craftsmanship, and it\u2019d be silly to turn up our noses at that. \u201cHave a good time,\u201d Huey Lewis once sang, wisely quoting Curtis Mayfield. \u201c\u2019Cause it\u2019s all right.\u201d<\/p>\n The Heart of Rock and Roll<\/strong>
At the James Earl Jones Theater, Manhattan; heartofrocknrollbway.com<\/a>. Running time: 2 hours 30 minutes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n