When you take a soap opera plot and turn it into a piece of musical theatre, the intense emotions of both forms could inevitably end up clashing, rather than complimenting each other, and this is precisely the problem with 210 Amlent Avenue, a show which fails to find the right balance to be effective. Set in the Hamptons on a 4th of July weekend, it follows budding author Judah (Zal Owen) who shows up at the home of his parents’ friend, Broadway actress Mrs. Jordan (Robin Skye) to pay his respects after her husband passed away. But Judah brings more than his condolences, on his agenda are the following: uncovering the secret behind a photograph Mrs. Jordan sent to his father, getting his new girlfriend Sarah (Lisa Birnbaum) a role in Mrs. Jordan’s new play, and possibly wooing his childhood sweetheart Claire (Nikki Van Cassele), a saintly young woman devoted to caring after Mrs. Jordan’s little boy, and her own sickly mother (both the little boy and the mother remain unseen during the whole show).
With more ulterior motives than you can count, all of which are intended to benefit only his own well being, the show still asks us to see Judah as the hero, as it vilifies everyone else around him. The book by Becky Goldberg goes as far as to turn its back on Mrs. Jordan, who had the potential for being a fascinating character, and is all but reduced to a greedy harpy, and an obstacle in Judah’s search for happiness. While the score by Karl Hinze is at times truly gorgeous, it can’t help but feel unjustified when the lyrics are about things as trite as how stunning the light looks in the Hamptons and what expensive pieces of art a character will use to decorate their new mansion.
If the show had intended such lyrics as elements of satire, it could’ve been brilliant, but they’re delivered with such sincerity that it’s clear that what we’re seeing is a show lacking in any sort of socioeconomic sensitivity. One of the most cringe-worthy moments has the characters argue over whether Manhattan is better than the Hamptons, which it does believing to be an updated version of West Side Story’s glorious “America”. It’s also quite telling for instance that the only two characters who are “outsiders” in this world of privilege are played by people who don’t look like WASPs, both of whom are desperately clinging to any sort of possibility to become part of this venomous enclave.
While keeping the soap opera alive is valid for myriad reasons, to believe it to be a genre of realism is quite deluded, sadly 210 Amlent Avenue does it, and for all the praises it constantly sings about the light in the Hamptons being so bright, it’s clear that the people behind it still have much to see in the world around them.
