Musicals are a beast all of their own. A creative seed is expanded into a full length script, written and rewritten, tweaked, adjusted, and re-written again. The story has to be supplemented with musical accompaniments that not only make sense in this newly created world, but that also are enjoyable enough to take on a life of their own. Choreography has to provide an exciting storytelling medium that drives the story forward and doesn’t make the audience question why everyday people suddenly felt the need to get up and dance. From costuming to sound design, lighting to set, and most notably, acting and singing performances, musicals demand an almost airtight concoction in just the right amounts to become successful.
Jukebox musicals add another difficulty layer to this already ambitious undertaking. Whereas original musicals have the freedom to create context, jukebox musicals attempt to take pre-existing songs (usually from the same artist) and impose a story context on music that was written to either be standalones or were created to make sense in a separate body of work.
Queen of the Road, a new jaunt into the life and times of the musical titan Calypso Rose written and directed by Rhoma Spencer, falls squarely into this subcategory. Following such predecessors as Beautiful: The Carol King Musical, MJ the Musical, A Night with Janis Joplin and countless others, Queen of the Road attempts to use the vast music catalogue of legend Linda McArtha Sandy-Lewis, to raise the curtain on the successes and hardships that made the calypso heavyweight who she is. After walking away from their invited press night on Thursday 9th May 2024, I was left feeling that this concoction needed a lot more time baking before it’s ready to hit the road.
Too Many Ingredients To Stir The Pot
As with most autobiographical jukebox musicals, the story begins following young Rose. Sent to live with her aunt and uncle on the island of Trinidad, Carty (played spectacularly by Thara Howe) finds herself in a new setting with a different culture. Bullying in school finds her isolated from her peers, turning to writing songs instead of socializing with children of her age group. Howe showcased her formidable vocal and acting prowess and thoughtful characterization in these early scenes, weaponizing her grandmother’s ancestral chant (portrayed throughout the show by the commanding presence of Theresa Hope) to defend herself and showing that this Tobago kid would not be intimidated.
Even with this stunning and endearing performance, the first indicators of a spongy script started showing itself. Carty is found writing the beginnings of Leave Me Alone, a song debuted in 2016, at 9 years old in the 1940s. Arguably the task of a jukebox musical is to include as many recognizable songs as makes sense to the story, but for a 9 year old to be penning such mature lyrics in a period of chronological dissonance sets off the antennae of anyone trying to make sense of Rose’s personal development. It seemed more like fan service to Rose’s supporters than honoring the truth of her history. For this particular song to appear so early in Rose’s life and in the story, it did more to upset the trust that audiences are asked to give in suspending their belief. Liberties in storytelling should be taken in the creative process absolutely, but never at the expense of a character’s narrative integrity.
There were other not-so-kosher storytelling moments throughout the show that needed a lot more expanding, ironing out, or omittance. For example, the introduction of Calypso Rose’s antagonist in the ever-present hand of the church felt abrupt and without warrant. As an everyday concept we can understand the church’s stance on the prevalence of “secular” music, but prior to the clergy body walking into formation on stage there was little indication that the wider church had or would have a problem with Rose’s calypso stylings outside of Rose’s father being a staunch Spiritual Baptist leader with a very vocal distaste of secular music.
Also in this vein, for the introduction of Rose’s artistic rival in The Mighty Sparrow, there was nothing Mighty about his treatment. His character was introduced with little fanfare and even less adversarial development that had me questioning whether he was as important as his legacy indicates. For anyone not privy to Sparrow’s juggernaut success or the rivalry between him and Rose (as we should assume if we want audience members to go on this journey with us), his narrative treatment felt not much more than “Here is a character we should all know. He and Rose are about to be rivals”. His name was dropped in passing and there was little to show his performance presence, which in turn did little to actually show their camaraderie and animosity.
It wasn’t enough to tell the audience that Sparrow was Rose’s biggest rival or that the church was against her suggestive lyrics (which at this point weren’t that suggestive). The story needed to show us how much conflict there was between these two antagonists. Were there protests outside the Tent? Was there off stage sabotaging that happened at the hands of Sparrow that sent Rose’s career off the rails and drove her to seek opportunities in foreign lands? What deeper underlying conflict do we see brought to the top that creates suspense, puts wedges between characters, and grabs the audience’s attention throughout? Even with the gathering of the clergy allowing for some hilarious characterizations (big up to Kearn Samuel and Kurtis Gross on their character actor work in this regard), funny one liners can only do so much to carry a full story forward. These little oversights snowballed into the bigger issue of the full project needing a lot more attention and intention behind the creative choices being made.
A Musical Needing Less Music and More Musicality
One aspect that felt solid in this musical theater callaloo was the music. Stacy Sobers’ majestic voice was able to soar while being supported by the musical direction of Michelle Henry. A small but mighty ensemble, the sound felt as robust as a live performance, and with vocal direction by Alicia Jaggasar, there was little worry that the entertainers were there to entertain. One such moment was in Sobers’ confrontation of the church body in defending her right to sing and, by extension, to exist. She was especially made to shine when embodying the signature gyrations of Rose in her Calypso Tent performances. But where the songs and sound soared, their quantity and application faltered.
As mentioned earlier, the task of the jukebox musical is to use as many recognizable songs as makes sense to the context of the show. I believe that the creative team skirted the paring down of the catalog with intention, in favor of packing as many songs as they could for audience favor . This left the full body of work feeling over-saturated and labored. There was one moment in the latter half of the show where Rose performs about three almost full-length selections in succession. Other times there were songs (also performed at near full-length) arose from the dialogue without much of a way to connect to what the tension of the preceding scene informed.
On the flip side, there were scene transitions that saw actors on stage or off in total silence without musical underscoring to keep the momentum of the narrative going, leaving both the audience and the world on stage with a big question mark. While I suspect these latter issues happened due to technical difficulties owing to the shortcomings of the Central Bank space not being outfitted for a full-scale musical production, it felt like a huge missed opportunity to flex the orchestration power and the musical talents that our musicians possess while also ferrying the story onwards.
Queen of the Road is a colossal undertaking that already has done the heavy lifting of putting the skeleton on stage. Even with the short falls in the creative aspects, the cast and team show that they have immense heart and dedication to their craft. It’s absolutely admirable, but still in its early stages. This is not a bad thing, considering most of the musicals we know and love take nearly a decade before they become the polished masterpieces they are today. I believe the journey of Queen of the Road has only just begun and would benefit from taking notes from its musical forerunners in the ways to utilize the expansive toolbox at its disposal. If harnessed with more care and attention to detail, it can become something that is truly as explosive and as captivating as the Queen who inspired its inception.
For those who missed it, Queen of the Road: The Calypso Rose Musical will make its return this weekend, Thursday May 30th and Friday 31st at Central Bank Auditorium at 6:30PM, and Saturday 1st June, 7:30PM at the Southern Academy for the Performing Arts.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Isaiah is a graduate of The American Musical and Dramatic Academy and The New School where he holds an Bachelor’s Degree in Musical Theatre and a minor in Screenwriting. He’s performed extensively both locally and internationally. Credits include; Doubles with Slight Pepper (dir. Ian Harinarine); Back to Freeport (dir. Jian Hennings); The Little Mermaid, West Side Story (Fireside Dinner Theatre); Julius Caesar (dir. Michaelian Taylor); Chicago (Potsdam Music Theatre).
The Trinidad and Tobago Performing Arts Network 
by Rhonda Spencer, ???? is this the name of the writer/director?please check the details. thanks and thanks and thanks
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