First staged at Don’t Tell Mama, Midnight at the Never Get has found an an ideal home on St. Peter’s stage, where it unfolds like an intimate cabaret show but is in fact a theater piece with an engaging plot. Midnight skillfully weaves the best of both genres into a delightful and heartfelt 90-minute experience of story and song.
Music, book and lyrics are masterfully crafted together by Mark Sonnenblick, telling the story of singer Trevor Copeland and his romance with pianist Arthur Brightman in the 1960’s, when such relationships were verboten.
The character of Trevor is impeccably played and passionately sung by co-creator Sam Bolen; his whimsical and wistful performance combined with effortless vocals is a joy to watch, in both humor and in heartbreak. In the role of the pianist and Trevor’s ideal of Arthur in the afterlife, Jeremy Cohen is charming, sexy and intense and infuriating.
Together, these two men tell the tale of Trevor and Arthur’s romance and its decline through the time of gay oppression into gay liberation under the deft direction of Max Friedman. Jamie Roderick uses subtle light changes to clue the audience between past vs. present. Choreography by Andrew Palermo deserves a mention; his staging of Trevor’s Midnight numbers is inventive and humorous. At the emotional climax of the show, Jon J. Peterson’s single moment on stage is perfectly done.
Midnight at the Never Get is wonderfully engaging and highly recommended. See it, then see it again (I did).
This limited engagement of Midnight at The Never Get plays through Sunday, November 4, 2018 at The York Theatre Company at Saint Peter’s (619 Lexington Avenue, entrance on East 54th Street, just east of Lexington Avenue). For information and tickets, visit here: yorktheatre.org, midnight never get.
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