Summer: The Donna Summer Musical

Recommended *** “The Disco Queen” was her title, and now her story is onstage at The Nederlander Theatre as Broadway In Chicago presents “Summer: The Donna Summer Musical”. With a book by Colman Domingo, Robert Cary and Des McAnuff and the music by Summer herself along with Giorgio Mroder, Paul Jabasa and others, we get a glimpse of this superstar and her life. Directed by McAnuff and choreographed by Sergio Trujillo, this is a slick, concert-like biography of a voice that is familiar to every American who danced to it during the “Disco” period.

For a little under two hours ( with no intermission) we learn about her childhood, puberty and life, including her marriages, her children and her fatal visit to the doctor. Donna is played by three highly talented women at different stages of her life. Ducking Donna ( young) is played by the charming and adorable Olivia Elease Hardy who has a powerful voice, proving that good things do come in small packages. As we move to Disco Donna ( middle) we watch and listen to the amazing Alex Hairston ( a great vocal range as well) and then, Diva Donna, Dan’yelle Williamson a powerhouse of voice. By the way, both Williamson and Hardy also play another role in the story.

Of course the music is THE story and moves this tale to its conclusion. Twenty-three songs like “I Feel Love”, “No More Tears ( Enough is Enough)”, “Stamp Your Feet” a fantastic rendition of “MacArthur Park” and of course the last song, “Last Dance” bringing the audience to their feet. The choreography is slick and the ensemble is energetic and right on! The dancers are female. In fact the only male cast members are  Steven Grant Douglas as Bruce Sudano, John Gardiner, Erick Pinnick, Jay Garcia and Sir Brock Warren.

Many of the other “male” roles are played by women of the ensemble and man, can they dance! The ensemble is made up of: Jennifer Byrne, Cameron Anika Hill, Brooke Lacy, Trish Lindstrom, Dequina Moore, Kyli Rae, Crystal Sha’nae, De’ja-Simone, Candace J. Washington, Brittany Nicole Williams and Tamrin Goldberg ( who in tonight’s performance was replaced by Mara Lucas as Norman Brokaw). This group works very hard and as I always say, a great ensemble makes a production reach higher levels of quality. This one surely does!

The live band. led by Amanda Morton is solid and I enjoyed that they used video to show them to the audience for their applause. Without the musicians you cannot have a solid musical , so great work!

Show Type: Musical

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The James M. Nederlander Theatre ( formerly the Oriental) is located at  24 West Randolph

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“Summer: The Donna Summer Musical”.