In “Music City,” a musical about struggling county singer-songwriters, we’re supposed to feel immersed in a cramped and crowded honky-tonk, but I felt transported to “Nashville,” not the town so much as the old TV series, a primetime soap opera with some really catchy country music. The stage show even has some of the same storylines, such as a mama whose addiction is holding her talented daughter back!
What’s different is that “Music City,” which has transferred to Theater at St. Luke’s after an acclaimed 2024 run, is a jukebox musical using only songs composed by JT Harding, several of which have been number one hits for such country music stars as Keith Urban (“Somewhere In My Car”), Blake Shelton (“Sangria”) and Uncle Kracker (“Smile.”) A word of assurance to those theatergoers who have never heard any of those names or titles before: You don’t have to be a country music fan to enjoy “Music City.” A terrific seven-member cast puts over Harding’s songs in lively musical numbers that are well-integrated into a coherent (if soapy) work of theater by book writer Peter Zinn.
Set in a fictional East Nashville bar known as the Wicked Tickle, “Music City” focuses on TJ and his brother Drew (Stephen Michael Spencer and Jonathan Judge-Russo), orphaned foster kids who are now hungry to make it into the cut-throat Nashville music industry. At open mic night, TJ meets another singer-songwriter who goes by the name 23 (Lauren Lolo Pritchard, who is the only newcomer to the cast, and all the more impressive for having stepped in for Casey Shuler only a week ago.) There is an instant attraction between TJ and 23, but there is a complication: In order to finance a demo of their songs, the brothers went to the only person they know who has any money, the nefarious Bakerman (Andrew Rothenberg), a drug dealer. He gives them the money but only if they start working for him as drug couriers. One of his clients happens to be Tammy (Leenya Rideout), 23’s strung-out mother.
Rothenberg serves as a delicious villain, both as the gregarious albeit menacing drug dealer and as the grandly self-admiring older country music star named Stucky Stiles, who has designs on 23.
Tammy was once an aspiring singer-songwriter herself, and Rideout, who also doubles as the record executive Leeanne, sings a song “For This Town” (which was a major hit for singer Jason Aldean) that more or less sums up the various story strands in a single couplet:
“But what they don’t tell you bout Nashville, Tennessee
is heartbreak’s the only thing they hand out for free.”
But that’s only at first. I probably need a spoiler alert here to reveal that, while things are touchy and tense throughout, it all works out happily at the end especially, for TJ and 23.
So that a more accurate summary would be the duet that TJ and 23 sing, “My Masterpiece” (which was originally sung by Darius Rucker)
I can’t play piano like Ray Charles
But, baby, when my life is through
I hope they say my masterpiece is lovin’ you
To be clear: Everybody in the cast gets their own song to sing and instrument to play; each of them shine. I was especially struck the rendition of “Alone With You” (originally recorded by Jake Owen) by Julianne B. Merrill as Wyn, the bar owner, who is also the music director.
The design team is diligent in re-creating a honky-tonk, maybe to a fault. There is the kind of tiny stage that such a bar would have, but much of the action occurs throughout the theater, meaning audience members have to twist around if they want to follow what’s going on. Not everybody bothers. There is pleasure enough just in listening.
Music City
Theatre at St. Luke’s
Running time: Two hours and 15 minutes including intermission
Tickets: $59 – $165
Music and lyrics by JT Harding
Book by Peter Zinn
Directed by Eric Tucker
Scenic design by Clifton Chadick, costume design by Kindall Houston Almond, lighting design by Eric Southern, sound design by Jane Shaw, choreograph by John Heginbotham
Cast: Drew Bastian as Newt, Jonathan Judge-Russo as Drew, Julianne B. Merrill as Wyn, Leenya Rideout as Tammy/Leeanne, Andrew Rothenberg as Bakerman/Stucky Stiles, Lauren Lolo Pritchard as “23,” and Stephen Michael Spencer as T.J. Understudies are Grace Bernardo, Danny Hayward and Megan Loomis.
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