BROADWAY SNAP-SHOT
by Russell Bouthiller

Dateline: November 1, 2005

IN MY LIFE

At the end of Joe Brooks' new musical, IN MY LIFE, a giant lemon descends from the heavens as a symbol of sunny optimism. Well, when life deals you lemons, make lemonade and this is precisely what Brooks, the composer, lyricist and director, has done with the dismal notices the show received from the New York theatre critics.

Defiantly, the producers of IN MY LIFE have excerpted quotes from Ben Brantley's excoriating review in The New York Times to make it sound—well, more positive. And, judging from the ads you'll see on TV, there are scores of regular folk pouring from the Music Box Theatre each performance with love filling their hearts.

Brooks, the composer of the 70's mega-hit "You Light Up My Life," certainly has the credentials to make people feel good. Extolling his vastly diverse awards, his bio reads like the modern-day Da Vince of multi-media. With an Oscar, a Grammy, 21 Clios, a Golden Globe and a Golden Palm, the only thing missing from his trophy case is the elusive Tony.

IN MY LIFE is the story of a young couple, J.T. (Christopher J. Hanke) and Jenny (Jessica Boevers), who meet and fall in love on a dime, which consequently prompts the opening number, "LIfe Turns on a Dime." Though life may evolve around money, it still doesn't come free of problems and J.T. and Jenny have their pockets full. What with his Tourette Syndrome and her obsessive-compulsive disorder, if it weren't for bad luck, they'd have no luck at all.

Running parallel to this story is the sub-plot revolving around an androgynous angel, Winston (David Turner), who literally floats around as something of an emcee-type character from CABARET. Winston wants to stage a real life opera for the Boss, who takes up the guise of an ordinary schlub and goes by the name Al (Michael J, Farina).

Worked into this heavenly mix is J.T.'S dead mother , Liz (Roberta Gumbel), and his equally dead kid sister, Vera (Chiara Navarra), who lost their lives in a terrible car-wreck. And, as coincidence would have it, Jenny lost her boyfriend, Nick (Michael Halling) in the same way, on the same day of the very same year.

Now, if this all sounds like a soap-opera, there's good reason. It is one. As their world turns, J.T. discovers he has a brain tumor—which we get to see on a huge MRI video image—and must grapple with the threat of blindness, or even worse. J.T. knows that Jenny will be crestfallen by such news and, with his music career taking off, he has no time to go under the knife. Creating meaningful art is simply more important for him, for his true love and for the world as we know it.

Whether or not Ben Brantley of The New York Times truly believes "...that finally the real 'Springtime for Hitler' had arrived in New York..." the audience seemed to react more like those people we see in the ad campaign. They were standing and cheering as if it were an open call for the commercial itself. Giggling at dancing skeletons and agog at Allen Moyer's scenic designs representing a bureaucratized afterlife, folks seemed to embrace Brooks' belief that life is strange and random, just "A Ride on the Wheel." Say, that might make a good title for a new daytime drama.