\n<\/p>\n
Still, even if you don\u2019t understand their Spanish lyrics, the songs prevail. Never forced into literal service as signboards for the plot but instead performed atmospherically by characters who would actually sing them, they lend coherence and depth to the story with their exquisite harmonies, delirious polyrhythms and raw brass. The exceptional music production \u2014 the work of a team led by Dean Sharenow and Marco Paguia \u2014 enhances that effect with arrangements appropriate to the new contexts and the intimate space of the Atlantic\u2019s Linda Gross Theater. The blessedly live-sounding sound design is by Jonathan Deans.<\/p>\n
And though I was less impressed by a series of balletic duets for the young sisters, which feel labored, the fizzy club dances are a delight. As choreographed by Patricia Delgado and Justin Peck, they match and heighten the music with intricate close partnering as limbs find ever more intricate ways of closing the space between bodies.<\/p>\n
Ali\u2019s staging, on a unit set by Arnulfo Maldonado that aptly suggests some of the cramped spaces in which the story transpires, does not yet reach that level. It is too often difficult, with 17 cast members and nine core musicians on the small and flatly lighted stage, to tell which location we\u2019re in: studio, club, hotel, esplanade. Sometimes which era, too, though Dede Ayite\u2019s taxonomy of caps and fedoras, high-waisted pants, flowy tunics and sock-hop skirts (not to mention showgirl kitsch) offers delightful clues.<\/p>\n
Cramped, too, is much of the action between the songs, lending a hectic feeling to material that wants more thoughtfulness or less bulk. Seeming to acknowledge that, the show ends weirdly and abruptly, as if cut off in mid-thought by a proctor\u2019s stopwatch.<\/p>\n
But when the staging, singing and playing come together, whether in exuberance or sorrow, I was happily reminded of another musical about music that originated at the Atlantic: \u201cThe Band\u2019s Visit.\u201d (David Yazbek, that show\u2019s songwriter,<\/a> is credited here as a creative consultant.) In such moments \u2014 the hypnotic \u201cChan Chan,\u201d the ear-wormy \u201cEl Cuarto de Tula,\u201d the heartbroken \u201cVeinte A\u00f1os,\u201d the gorgeous \u201cDrume Negrita\u201d \u2014 you really do feel the past harmonizing with the present. What Compay says is true: \u201cOld songs kick up old feelings.\u201d Even, as in the showstopping and, yes, scorching \u201cCandela,\u201d with a flute.<\/p>\n Buena Vista Social Club<\/strong>
Through Jan. 21 at the Atlantic Theater, Manhattan; atlantictheater.org<\/a>. Running time: 2 hours.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n