The Hollywood Reporter’s Frank Scheck has been among the first to review the musical stage adaptation of Disney’s Phil Collins-penned Tarzan animated film, now playing on Broadway. Calling the production “more a theme park attraction than a show, but a spectacularly staged one nonetheless”, while adding that it is “gorgeous and imaginative [and] certainly the most cinematic show ever seen on Broadway”, one can read the entire review here:

Tarzan

Hollywood Reporter review by Frank Scheck
Bottom line: More a theme park attraction than a show, but a spectacularly staged one nonetheless.

Tarzan, the Walt Disney Co.’s latest theatrical excursion, has been staged by Bob Crowley, a designer with no directorial experience on his extensive resume. That’s no accident because the show is not so much directed as designed, to within an inch of its life.

This musical version of the animated film is a gorgeous and imaginative production, the impact of which lessens considerably once the story and score kick in. While somewhat lacking compared to the long-running hits Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King, it should please its target family audiences and seems destined to further increase the company’s theatrical presence.

The visual and aural splendors of the production kick in immediately, with a series of dazzling stage images that have a significant “wow” effect. The effects begin with a shipwreck, followed by an underwater sequence in which the onstage figures are seen swimming furiously. Then the action shifts to a beach, which we seem to be viewing through an overhead camera shot.

Such lavishly designed images permeate the production, which, along with its surround-sound din, is certainly the most cinematic show ever seen on Broadway. Thankfully, Crowley provides an intense theatricality, much of it seemingly inspired by Cirque du Soleil, to go along with the special effects. Indeed, some of the best moments come from such relatively primitive styles as shadow puppetry.

Of course, it’s the flying apes and title character that people have come to see, and the show doesn’t disappoint. They fly through the trees, and sometimes over the audiences’ heads, in thrillingly athletic fashion, accompanied by music that plays more like a soundtrack than a traditional theatrical score.

Indeed, this one of the show’s main problems. Phil Collins’ music, featuring numbers from the film as well as new ones written for this production, doesn’t exactly leap off the stage. Sure, it includes some terrific songs, including Two Worlds and the Oscar-winning You’ll Be in My Heart. But it rarely displays the sort of theatrical energy or style that would lift it above the realm of background music.

The book by Tony-winning playwright David Henry Hwang (M. Butterfly) is similarly disappointing. While no one was expecting great profundity in his retelling of the story of the boy raised by apes and his subsequent identity crisis upon meeting the very beautiful and human Jane (Jenn Gambatese), a little more wit and subtlety would have been nice.

Josh Strickland, a former American Idol finalist, is a perfectly acceptable Tarzan, and his lithe physique, shown off in nothing more than a loincloth, should appeal to the teenage girls who will no doubt constitute a large part of the audience. But while his singing and athleticism are fine, he displays little of the charisma necessary to make the character anything more than a cartoon figure.

Here, it’s the performers playing the apes who deserve the biggest kudos. The booming-voiced Shuler Hensley delivers a powerful turn as their leader Kerchak, Merle Dandridge is very moving as Tarzan’s loving simian mother, and Chester Gregory II sings and dances superbly – not to mention often upside down – as his best friend Terk.

Tarzan peaks toward the end of the first act, with such spectacularly staged sequences as Tarzan’s battles with a ferocious leopard and a giant spider. The second act, concentrating on the love story, sags considerably.

Ultimately, whatever problems the show has, including the fact that it too often plays like a theme park attraction than a real Broadway musical, are not likely to matter to the crowds who will find attending it far easier than a trip to Disney World.

Tarzan
Presented by Disney Theatrical Prods.

Credits:
Music and lyrics: Phil Collins
Book: David Henry Hwang
Director: Bob Crowley
Set and costume designer: Bob Crowley
Choreographer: Meryl Tankard
Lighting designer: Natasha Katz
Sound designer: John Shivers

Cast:
Tarzan: Josh Strickland
Jane: Jenn Gambatese
Kala: Merle Dandridge
Kerchak: Shuler Hensley
Terk: Chester Gregory II
Professor Porter: Timothy Jerome
Clayton: Donnie Keshawarz
Young Tarzan: Daniel Manche, Alex Rutherford.

Richard Rodgers Theatre, New York (Runs indefinitely)