Much as Benjamin Button ages backwards from elderly to infant, the new musical “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” also starts off unrecognizably from where it ultimately winds up.
asserted
it → age → Button
That stark reversal could be because its style, folksy and verbose Paul Bunyan-ish exposition in overeager group songs, takes some getting used to.
uncertain
style → take → some
But truth be told, that often confusing and self-satisfied aspect never grew on me.
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aspect → tell → me
The sweet show from London with a new American cast that opened Wednesday night at the Public Theater with Broadway aspirations improves, and staggeringly so, in the second half when many of the side characters and story-theater shtick get the heave-ho and its rich romantic leads are allowed to live and breathe more freely and honestly.
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many → open → ho
They’re Benjamin, played from tomb to womb by Andrew Durand, and his life-long love Elowen, earthily portrayed by Kelsee Kimmel.
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They → ’re → Kimmel
That pair of actors and their earnest passion, which radiate genuine love for each other rather than the hopped-up theatrical suggestion of it, is “Button”’s greatest asset and enough of a reason to recommend this very sincere show.
But it takes a while for the material and director Jethro Compton’s production to calm down and find that focus.
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material → radiate → focus
Most will know F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short story from David Fincher’s movie starring Brad Pitt.
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Most → know → Pitt
Composer Darren Clark and book writer Compton (both co-wrote the lyrics)
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both → co → lyrics
That’s smart.
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That → ’ → ?
For one, during the First World War, millions of British children lost their dads.
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millions → lose → dads
Kids had to grow up fast — not unlike Benjamin.
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Kids → have → Benjamin
And then there’s the acoustic, sad-happy, pub music of that time, which makes up this lush, Celtic-adjacent score.
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which → ’ → score
But most importantly, what could be more surreal than Britain reeling from one world war that devastated a generation of young men while being just two decades away from getting dragged into another one?
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that → reel → one
He’s Benjamin, who’s already an old man with the ability to speak and read and even arrived complete with a pair of glasses.
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who → ’ → glasses
Thankfully, this is the one plot point the musical does not endeavor to explain.
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musical → endeavor → ?
But it does quickly introduce an undercurrent of darkness.
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it → introduce → darkness
Benjamin’s mother Mary (Sachiko Mae) hates that she gave birth to what she believes to be a freak of nature.
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she → hat → nature
Doubling down, she sings an almostly laughably moody song comparing her baby to the Kraken, a giant squid that drags ships to the watery deep.
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that → double → deep
Mary makes Joan Crawford look like Maria von Trapp.
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Crawford → make → Trapp
And his father Roger (Brandon J. Ellis) resents his son for what his wife does to herself.
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wife → resent → herself
As the years and wrinkles wash away, Benjamin has to find inspirations to be optimistic, as he spiritedly sings in the musical’s best song, “A Little Life.”
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he → wash → song
His No. 1 reason for being turns out to be the local barmaid Elowen.
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reason → turn → ?
He’s 55 (sorta) and she’s 25.
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she → ’ → ?
Being that this is 2026, she makes a speech about why the mid-50s is the perfect age for a man.
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mid-50s → make → man
The Public’s donors will be delighted.
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donors → delight → ?
The two fall in love and they plan to leave town — only parental meddling separates them for years.
The other struggle with Act One, and why there is so much narration, is that a whole lot happens.
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lot → fall → Act
Benjamin starts at 70 and ends the first half at 44.
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Benjamin → start → 44
He goes off to sea for a decade and enlists in the Royal Navy during World War II.
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He → go → II
The seafaring voyage and oceanside locale is taken advantage of by Compton’s set (this guy’s a real Jeth of all trades), resembling a sunken fishing boat.
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guy → take → boat
Little buoys floating above the stage light up to become celestial bodies at nighttime.
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buoys → float → nighttime
Though more than anything it evokes that 2010s trend on Broadway of hip little analog shows that appear to take place in dank old pubs, like “Once” and “Hadestown.”
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that → evoke → Once
Similarly, the costumes by Anna Kelsey both nod to the period and make the cast look like they work in an ethical butcher shop in Red Hook.
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they → nod → Hook
That cool ensemble of actor-musicians plays the score well and sings splendidly, but I struggled to keep straight the many, many characters they play in the first 90 minutes.
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they → play → minutes
And then the tide of Act Two rolls in, and the show becomes less of a rattled-off series of events and on-the-nose reference to “time” and a more mature musing on loss and how we willingly waste so much of our lives.
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we → roll → lives
Maybe it’s because these are not your typical romantic leads.
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these → ’ → ?
What they’re doing is grounded and palpable.
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doing → do → What
Unlike Durand, who is solely Benjamin all night, Kimmel plays numerous roles, including a sheep (see, this kind of stuff gnaws at me).
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kind → play → me
But I noticed that after some especially emotional numbers, or scenes in which Elowen confronts Benjamin, that she wouldn’t easily snap out of it and fall into line with the rest of the cast.
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she → notice → cast
Those feelings would linger.
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feelings → linger → ?
Her commitment and chemistry with Durand makes the musical.
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commitment → make → musical
…and 10 more, not listed.
The Aporia
