It’s 2024 and Huey Lewis is having a moment. Just let it sink in.
Lewis was an unexpected highlight of the recent Netflix documentary “The Greatest Night in Pop,” about the star-studded 1985 session where “We Are the World” was recorded. An everyman rocker, Lewis was (and still is) amazed to rub elbows with Michael Jackson, Bob Dylan, Tina Turner and Bruce Springsteen. He even got to sing the part originally intended for Prince.
Now comes the new Broadway show “The Heart of Rock and Roll”, which is not so much a Huey Lewis (and the News) musical as the Huey Lewis of musicals: not taking itself too seriously, doing what it does well and just happy to be on Broadway, keeping company with bigger productions.
Like most jukeboxes, “The Heart of Rock and Roll” has big hits, including “The Power of Love” and “Stuck With You,” with lesser-known tracks in a plot generic enough to accommodate them.
Set in 1987, Jonathan A. Abrams’ book, based on a story by Tyler Mitchell and Abrams, centers on Bobby (Corey Cott, of the underrated “Bandstand”), an employee at a struggling cardboard box manufacturer, Stone Incorporated, in Milwaukee . Bobby works on the assembly line, but he really wants to join the sales department so he can “Be Someone,” as the show’s new song puts it. Wait, no, maybe what he really wants is to rock out with his old band, the Loop. Bobby can sing “It’s Hip to Be Square,” but deep down does he really believe it?
By now you may have noticed that dreams play a big role in “The Heart of Rock and Roll.” There are numerous accounts of chasing the dream, realizing it and living it, but also abandoning it. Sentimentality often breaks out, along with clichés. And Bobby, whose only personality trait seems to be “nice guy,” has more than his share of both — he hears the fateful siren call “one last show” and carries emotional baggage associated with his “old man”. At least Kot gives Bobby a laid-back charm This is not unlike Lewis’s, along with his emotional big Act II aria, “The Only One.”
Fortunately, there’s also enough good-natured humor to keep Gordon Greenberg’s production from sinking into obnoxiousness. Much of the hilarity comes from amusing secondary characters, starting with Bobby’s love affair with his boss’s daughter, Cassandra (McKenzie Kurtz, late Glinda on “Wicked”). He’s a fan who loves spreadsheets, and Kurtz’s Cassandra is a reminiscing delight Annaleigh Ashford’s performance in “Kinky Boots”.
It’s not the only time “The Heart of Rock and Roll” brings to mind this hit, which also takes place in a factory. Like Jerry Mitchell’s in the previous show, Lorin Latarro’s high-energy choreography here makes clever use of the props, having the employees slide on sheets of cardboard and develop the ensemble into a number that includes jumping into Bubble Wrap.
This scene takes place at a packaging convention, where Stone Inc. tries to create dramatic activities. For obscure reasons, the company’s sane head of HR, Roz (a superb Tamika Lawrence doll), has tagged along. And she, too, had to make a life-changing decision for once — “and it’s a good thing,” Rose quips dryly, “because otherwise I would never have found the unbridled joy of ‘human potential’.” plot twist, which comes at the end.)
Of course, cool Midwesterners need a badass antagonist, preferably of the putting-on-airs variety (a big no in the Huey Lewis universe). And here the show excels thanks to laid-back physical comedy ace Billy Harrigan Tighe and his unforgettable performance as Tucker, Cassandra’s cocky ex-brother. In the number “Give Me the Keys,” he and his old Princeton a cappella group, the Undertones, invite Cassandra for a ride in a pretend car. The moment Kurtz mimes opening the door and Tighe mimes rolling down the window is a strong contender for funniest Broadway spring scene.
While the dialogue occasionally pops, it’s the performances that keep the show rolling, along with Greenberg and Latarro’s quick, resourceful set. Bobby’s “I Want a New Drug,” for example, is an economical summary of why many men join rock bands: In his hotel room at the convention, just as he pulls out his beloved guitar, holding it like a holy relic , three women magically emerge from inside the bed — in a neat touch, their clothes are stylized representations of Bobby’s axe. (Costumes are by Jen Caprio.)
“The Heart of Rock and Roll” isn’t going to be the stuff of reflection and master’s theses, but its laid-back spirit is bolstered by solid craftsmanship, and we’d be foolish to turn our noses up at it. “Have a good time,” Huey Lewis once sang, sagely referencing Curtis Mayfield. “Because it’s okay.”
The Heart of Rock and Roll
At the James Earl Jones Theatre, Manhattan. heartofrocknrollbway.com. Performance duration: 2 hours 30 minutes.