“Truth is stranger than fiction” goes the old expression, and some of the most intriguing stories come directly from the headlines. In the early 1920’s many men explored the Kentucky caves, hoping to attract tourists to pay to visit them. In 1925, Floyd Collins, a young spelunker, was pinned by a rock, trapping him underground. His story attracted vast media attention and the publicity drew tens of thousands of tourists. Some came to help, while others capitalized on his misfortune, selling food and souvenirs.

What an unusual topic for a show, even more so for a musical! On February 9,1996, the musical based on Collins’ story with music and lyrics by Adam Guettel, and book by Tina Landau opened Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons where it ran for 25 performances. The two creatives joined together again for the Broadway debut of Floyd Collins at Lincoln Center Theater.

Although the story itself has real-life drama, the musical adds the pathos and dynamics of his family. Floyd is stuck there for days while above ground his family, friends, neighbors and eventually government officials and even the army struggle to save him. A reporter, “Skeets” Miller, comes to cover the story. Taylor Trensch portrays the young journalist who was skinny enough to go into the cave and reach Floyd. He has the strongest emotional arc in the story and Trensch sings beautifully..

Jeremy Jordan portrays the unfortunate Floyd, exuberant, passionate and positive. Jordan does the entire first scene in near darkness as he ‘descends’ into the cavern, seeking the perfect sand cave. We hear the echoes as he sings out, determining the size of the cave. His voice is glorious and most of the time when he is singing, he’s ‘trapped’ onstage in a grey chair unable to move his arms. He rarely loses his optimism, always hopeful that he will be rescued. Ironically his sister Nellie calls him “lucky.”

The script creates a strange family dynamic with Lizzy McAlpine playing his sister Nellie who has just been released from a sanitarium. She has her “head in the clouds” while Floyd has his underground. The cast including Jason Gotay as his brother Homer who refuses to give up on Floyd is in fine voice. As men work to try to rescue Floyd, Homer gets offers to appear on the vaudeville stage to tell the story.

While the three siblings have a close relationship, there's discord with their father who notes there’s something wrong with all of them. Marc Kurdisch plays Lee Collins, the father and Jessica Molasky is the stepmother.

Despite Floyd’s optimism, the story is gloomy because the end is inevitable. What makes the situation abhorrent is the commercialization above ground. A man is trapped-his life is in danger but the atmosphere outside is that of a ‘country fair” with balloons and fireworks and vendors hawking food and souvenirs.

Adam Guettel’s songs are often dissonant. Although a colleague next to me professed to love the music, I couldn’t share her sentiment. The best number is the first one when Floyd plays with echoes, testing out the breadth of the cave.

The design collective dots created a minimal set, with a few ramps on an almost bare stage and a few ramps while Jordan remained onstage the entire time ‘unable to move’ from his chair.

I’m not sure why director - writer Landau added the family drama since the true story is compelling enough. Despite great effort to save him, Collins died underground. His body was later put on display in the same cave. However, things took a bizarre turn when his remains were stolen. Later one of his limbs was found in a nearby tree. The tragic irony is that Collins tooks risks and chances , hoping to find a tourist attraction when ultimately he became the tourist attraction.