Bell Theater just opened its doors to the local community and they couldn't have picked a more compelling or exciting musical to welcome the first audiences inside! East Carson Street is a World Premiere Musical that seamlessly pulled together a wonderful score by Joe Grushecky with an evocative and thought provoking storyline expertly executed by a strong cast of characters and directed by Daniel Kutner.
With a microphone stand center stage and the band visibly playing their tunes on set, it had a completely different vibe for a musical. Much of the action centered on or around that circular elevated space with Constantine Maroulis (Jimmy) and Teal Wicks (Angie) leading the charge and the entire company weaving the story together with tunes that brought you into their narrative. Set in Pittsburgh, East Carson Street strings together the life experience of everyone across the town to broadly touch on relationships, career aspirations, illness from job related tasks, pregnancy, friends, building a family, drug dependence and loss, and acceptance. The entire company does a wonderful job of making the story draw you in for the experience and leaving you with real and raw emotion during many scenes.
The new theater space at Bell Works had great lighting and acoustics in addition to providing an exciting venue to bring this new musical to the stage for the first time. We attended on the closing afternoon for this production and were shocked to hear in the dialogue that followed the bows at the end about how quickly they were able to take this story from the page to the stage! I'm certain that the strong cast, exciting score, and meaningful storyline will bring this musical forward to its next venue soon for a new audience to enjoy.
While the curtain has closed locally on East Carson Street, I'm glad this new musical premiered right here in our community and I'm confident you'll be seeing it out there again soon. Bell Theater has a full line up of other theater productions, concerts, and other entertainment available to you right here in Holmdel. Check out the upcoming lineup at belltheater.org.
