Stage/Theatre

What: In Dreams: A New Musical
Where: CAA Ed Mirvish Theatre, 244 Victoria St.
When: Now, until Sun., Nov. 12
Highlight: Arnulfo Maldonado’s restaurant set, which, with its proliferation of neon signs advertising beer brands, feels more like a composite of Mexican joints from across the southwest than a specific one.
Rating: NNNN (out of 5)
Why you should go: It’s a strange and tender piece of theatre that puts Texas rock singer Roy Orbison’s catalogue to genuinely interesting, at times almost abstract, use.

JUKEBOX MUSICALS are usually performed with a wink. The idea of shaping a plot around a musician’s catalogue is so silly and inherently commercial that most attempts — including Mirvish’s 2022 & Juliet, from book-writer David West Read and director Luke Sheppard — end up very self-conscious about the whole thing. “Look,” they shout over the inevitable curtain call megamix, “isn’t it wacky of us to put a Beastie Boys song in a play?”

In Dreams: A New Musical, Read and Sheppard’s latest, forgoes this stale convention. The tunes, by Texas rock singer Roy Orbison (“Pretty woman, walkin’ down the street … ”), are sewn into the show’s narrative with impressive smoothness. Only rarely do their opening chords provoke applause. Instead, the music serves a plot that’s far more character-driven than that of most jukebox musicals. This all makes for a surprisingly heartfelt, sometimes even beautiful, entry into an oft-reviled genre.

Broadway star Lena Hall plays Kenna, a country-rock singer who barges into a Mexican restaurant in the rural United States offering Day of the Dead-inspired memorial services and asks to book one — not for someone lost, but for herself; her recently diagnosed cancer fast encroaching, she wants one last party. The owners — young couple Nicole (Nasim Ramírez) and Oscar (Manuel Pacific), along with the latter’s grandmother, Ana Sofia (Alma Cuervo) — are quickly convinced, Kenna’s pals are summoned, and the celebration goes off successfully. Other than the appearance of Kenna’s old flame Ramsey (Oliver Tompsett), there’s little conflict; instead, the show spends its energy meditating on (or at least bringing up) the nature of grief, love and — of course — dreams.

Nearly the whole show unfolds on Arnulfo Maldonado’s restaurant set, which, with its proliferation of neon signs advertising beer brands, feels more like a composite of Mexican joints from across the southwest than a specific one. Halfway through the second act, the whole construction flies up and out, leaving the stage essentially empty. This allows George Reeve’s colourful video design to shine forward unimpeded, the horizon blazing Western-like. And, actually, there is something very classical Hollywood about In Dreams — like a good MGM musical, it allows itself to be sentimental without reservation.

It’s a treat to watch this cast work. Hall, Tompsett and Cuervo are all world-class performers who will surely follow the project anywhere it goes. The script has a few significant dips in energy and some general sogginess (“Take the next flight? I’m an Uber driver. I’m gonna drive!”), but they help the audience through it. And the ensemble singing — carefully dosed out, rather than overused — shimmers.

In Dreams isn’t a masterpiece. And I don’t know that would do particularly well in New York, at least in its current state. But it’s a strange and tender piece of theatre that puts Orbison’s catalogue to genuinely interesting, at times almost abstract, use. A jukebox musical made of little lives and cloud-capped skies: who’d have dreamed it?