David Adjmi’s Stereophonic made quite a splash on Broadway in 2023. After moving from off-Broadway to the Great White Way, it landed 13 Tony nominations (the most for any play in history!), winning five, in addition to Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and New York Drama Critics Circle awards. That’s quite a pedigree to live up to, and as staged at the Hollywood Pantages through January 2, it does just that. For the most part.
The show focuses on a fictional, unnamed rock band working on the follow-up to their breakthrough album in 1976 Sausalito. In the middle of this, their latest single reverses course on the Billboard Hot 100, rebounding all the way into the Top 10, bringing them even more success and increasing pressure for their next work. The band perhaps doesn’t even know they’re about to go up against the tidal wave of disco that’s going to crash and flood the country in three, two, one …
Producer-band leader-guitarist Peter (Denver Milford) is feeling the squeeze the most, while his wife, vocalist-tambourinist Diana (Claire DeJean), is struggling to make her own mark out from under his shadow. Reg (Christian Mowod), the bassist of the band, is having issues with his girlfriend, keyboardist Holly (Emilie Kouatchou), due to his addictions. Drummer Simon Cornelius McMoyler) is missing his family back in England, and two tech guys, stretched and stressed Grover (Jack Barrett), who lied to get his job, and his assistant, sweet, well-meaning Charlie (Steven Lee Johnson), round out the ensemble, adding their own intensity through the creation of the work. Squabbles, creative clashes, and pressures — personal and professional — ensue. It’s complicated.
Taking place in a recording studio in four acts, Stereophonic is essentially four days in the life of a band. And though it is about the making of music, it is not a musical. Adjmi’s script is smart, each character believable and complex. The roles feel lived in, a world weariness in them, adding a melancholy, downbeat vein. Each one pops, and each gets a spotlight, aside from Charlie, but that serves the character, giving Johnson a quiet chance to steal scenes, which he consistently does. The actors are phenomenal musicians, playing the instruments themselves, and are extraordinary vocalists, with DeJean being particularly jaw dropping.
The music by Will Butler from Arcade Fire is remarkable, each song sounding like a single, which tracks as his band always had a sweet pop sensibility without ever forsaking their rock cred. The wardrobe by Costume Designer Enver Chakartash and the bi-level scenic design by David Zinn are fantastically ’70s. You can practically feel the shag carpeting under your feet. The lighting design by Jiyoun Chang and the sound by Ryan Rumery work beautifully to add to the rock spectacle aspects of the band’s rehearsals.
The only negative is that, while Stereophonic is always engaging, it is far too long at three hours. Director Daniel Aukin can do only so much when a script is that lengthy, and he does his best to keep things moving without seeming like the story is fast-forwarding, but many people left at intermission, perhaps due to the fact that, despite there being a lot of humor, the show could use a boost of energy. Meditative and insightful can be winning and moving, and if the show had come in at two and a half hours, it would have much more impact.
Stereophonic is performed at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre, 6233 Hollywood Boulevard, through January 2. Tickets are available at BroadwayInHollywood.com.
Photo credit: Julieta Cervantes
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