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Review: Nick Blaemire's 'Glory Days' on Broadway

BY LINDA WINER | linda.winer@newsday.com

May 7, 2008

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Show business is full of stories about talent recognized too little, too late.

Not as obviously sad, but potentially as destructive, is the less common case of too much, too soon.

But so it is with "Glory Days," which got in under the wire of Tony Award eligibility last night at the Circle in the Square Theatre. A debut work by composer Nick Blaemire, 23, and author James Gardiner, 24, the collegiate 90-minute show was a last-minute Broadway booking after a successful run at Eric Schaeffer's accomplished Signature Theatre outside Washington, D.C.

As a first effort by bright newcomers, the piece has youthful promise. As a grown-up offering in a Broadway house (not to mention at Broadway prices), this little-show-that-can't is so far in over its sweet head that we fear for its safety.

One year after graduation, four buddies reunite in the football stadium for an is-there-life-after-high-school? soft-pop psychodrama. Since they first bonded as outsiders rejected by the football team, one may well wonder at the meeting choice for what Will (Steven Booth) anticipates will be "one perfect night."

But Will has an idea for a prank, something about the sprinkler system, that is forgotten sooner than these alarmingly immature young men forget the tedious slights from the popular clique. Mostly, the friends tussle on metal bleachers against a bank of stadium lights, and catch up on the trivialities of arrested development.

Skip (Adam Halpin), a military kid, has let his hair grow. Jack (Jesse JP Johnson), the quiet one, has dropped out of college to travel. Andy (Andrew C. Call), the buff jock, has joined a fraternity. And someone - surprise - comes out as gay.

The songs are pleasant; the orchestration tinny. The better folk-rock sounds suggest James Taylor. The lyrics experiment with squeezing a lot of words into a phrase and then a little into a phrase, and lean on the dubious allure of forced rhymes - team/mean, change/pain.

There is much heterosexual panic, debates over Batman vs. Superman, and betrayed laments about not being "boys anymore." Finally, they conclude that "people change" and "it's not easy." Will, who keeps a journal, leaves us with the promise to write "my next story." Perhaps producers should have waited for that one.

GLORY DAYS. Music by Nick Blaemire, book by James Gardiner, directed by Eric Schaeffer. Circle in the Square Theatre, 235 W. 50th St., Manhattan. Tickets $97.50; 212-239-6200. Seen at Sunday afternoon's preview.

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