Holler if Ya Hear Me.

       As a white boy growing up in the far suburbs of Boston, MA my experience with 90's gangsta rap was limited. I had certainly heard of Tupac Shakur, but I'd never been exposed to him or his music. Full disclosure: I've never had much of an affinity for hip hop music of any kind, least of all rap. While it's certainly not perfect, the new musical Holler if Ya Hear Me closing tomorrow at The Palace Theater made me a Tupac fan.

      The story is an original tale about a man released from prison back into the world in which he'd been trying to escape from his whole life. He reconnects with old friends, old enemies, and family. He's still on the streets struggling to make a living for himself and to get out of the ghetto. It's a familiar story, but it's never been told on Broadway before like this.

     Let's just get it out in the open right now: The book is bad. The story itself is not what isn't good about this piece. Some of called it "familiar" and "Cliche". To everyday Broadway audiences it might be. To this shows intended audience, it's a slice of what they deal with every day. That being said - the book is bad. The dialogue is ham hocked and poorly constructed. Held up against the poetic and prophetic lyrics of Tupac Shakur, the book seems like it was written by a high school student.

     The music is what makes this piece shine. It is some of the most wonderful and powerful music ever performed on a Broadway stage. Kenny Leon and Wayne Cilento have given smart and effective direction and choreography, respectively. The set, and lighting were also beautifully constructed. The costumes rang more 90's to me than contemporary, but it's been a while since I went walking in a mid-western predominantly black neighborhood so I could be wrong about that.

    The cast is phenomenal Saul Williams, Christopher Jackson, and Saycon Sengbloh lead a cast of dynamic and talented young singers and dancers in relaying this epic music. Even this fantastic performances can only do so much in elevating the written material they are given to work with. The book has zero character development. The supremely talented asset, Tonya Pinkins, is great in every scene she is in, however she is wasted and hardly appears in the show.

     While all of the musical numbers are staged brilliantly, they don't always make sense, fit the scenes they are in, and sometimes the lyrics to the songs are in direct contradiction to what the character singing just said in the previous scene. Many of the songs seen shoe-horned into moments that don't quite fit, or, have had ridiculous dialogue written for the specific purpose of including certain songs and not to tell the story.

      Everyone else has said it, so I might as well say it to: This show would have benefited tremendously by an out of town try out. The book would have (probably, hopefully) gotten better, and the story elements would have tightened up.

    What really drove this show into the ground though is an inability on the part of the producers to bring young black people into the theater. Broadway audiences are predominantly white. Broadway tickets are expensive. Though this show did make an effort to make tickets a but more affordable than is usual for a big Broadway show.

     I do hope that Holler resurfaces someplace else with a stronger book. All the elements are there to make a truly fantastic and powerful Broadway musical that could define a generation. It all just needs a little more time in the oven.