Review: Broadway Musical Paradise Square Imagines Racial Utopia in a Notorious Slum
Is there a place on Broadway for epic historical musicals anymore? The continuing success of Hamilton suggests so, although that show benefits from a far more distinctive and confident authorial voice. And even though it wasn’t a hit in its last Broadway revival, I keep hoping that someone will bring back Ragtime, a historical musical that successfully brought together its many moving parts, and which has only appreciated in value (Paradise Square lead producer Garth Drabinsky also produced that gem in 1998). Until then, we’ll have to make do with the likes of Paradise Square, which (like all utopias) overpromises and underdelivers.
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