The Anthem

“Music! Dance! Capitalism!” exclaims the sub-title for The Anthem, the new musical by Gary Morgenstein, Jonnie Rockwell, and Erik Ransom, now making its world premiere at Culture Project’s Lynn Redgrave Theater. Loosely based on Ayn Rand’s novella, Anthem (which received a far more earnest theatricalization last year), this meta-musical lets Rand’s dystopian vision of a society without individualism speak for itself, without a lot of quippy editorial commentary in the dialogue. The space opera-inspired design does all the heavy lifting in that regard, dressing up Rand’s world in leather fetish gear and silver lamé. While this provides for hearty laughs throughout the first act, the show begins to falter in the second act like a stalled warp drive. No matter how thrilling the design and staging, The Anthem just can’t overcome a book and score in desperate need of trimming.