Soon

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Nick Blaemire’s new chamber musical Soon is about Charlie (Ava Delaney), a 20-something young woman, living in the East Village, who has become paralyzed by the news that global warming is speeding up and we don’t have much time left. She has not left her apartment in months even to go to work, and spends her time on her sofa along with her goldfish Hershel watching Wolf Blitzer’s fatalistic news reports: “Due to a catastrophic depletion of our ozone layer – it now seems that human life may not be sustainable – in as short a time as one year from today.”

Luckily for Charlie her roommate Steven (Mike Millan) who is often out chasing his rich boyfriend Blaine is paying the bills (rent, food, etc.) Soon after the show starts there is a knock on the door and Jonah (Oliver Richman), a grocery delivery boy (whose parents actually own the store chain,) arrives with supplies. He is immediately smitten with Charlie and attempts to jolly her out of her depression and gloom. In the course of a few days and months, Steven, who is gay, sashays in and out of the apartment and Charlie’s mother Adrienne (Mylinda Hull) (who lives with her toy boy in Connecticut after her husband left her) comes to visit to find out what is going on with her daughter.

Ironically, the show is not depressing (though the topic sounds grim) as all the characters are upbeat and amusing. However, there are other problems with the writing of the show which seems thin and simplistic for three quarters of the running time. Blaemire’s pleasant songs tend to be repetitious and not just that “When the World Ends” is reprised three more times while “Peanut Butter” is sung twice as is “How Are You?”. Just about when the plot seems to be beating a dead horse, at about three-quarters of the way through the show we find out the real reason that Charlie has given up and it turns Soon into something else entirely, serious and sobering, though the show up till then really can’t support this revelation.

While the show has 16 musical numbers, most of these are about the end of the world, though there are a few lighter numbers on topics like peanut butter, cooking macaroons, and Bar Mitzvahing Hershel the Goldfish. While the songs are not unpleasant, they depend mostly on rhyming words rather than on clever thoughts or ideas, almost as though they were chosen for their sound. There are, however, two standouts: Adrienne, Charlie’s mother, tells her what the Village was like in her day in the catchy song and dance number “Bohemia Paradiso,” and just at the point that Jonah is going to give up on Charlie who really doesn’t want anyone’s help he sings the poignant “How Do You Know (What’s Going to Happen)?”

Delaney’s Charlie is smart and witty though by halfway through one is a little tired of her always knowing best and doing nothing. As Jonah, Richman is one of the good guys but more than a little nerdy, kind of like Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter. Millan’s Steven is over-the-top in a clichéd fashion as if auditioning for Arnold Beckoff in Torch Song Trilogy though he adds pep to Charlie’s pessimism. Best is Hull as Adrienne as the once bohemian resident of the Village though we have seen this character before.  However, she does liven up the show whenever she put in an appearance whether in person or on the phone sitting in her suburban armchair. Max Spitulnik as the voice of Wolf Blitzer is spot on – I thought it was the real Blitzer though I had never heard him recount such dangerous evidence of climate change.

The Loft at St. Luke’s Theatre has been set up by designer Sean Frank as a living room with many colorful rugs and pictures, posters and record albums around the walls. The audience sits on two sides which makes for a very intimate stage though we are often at right angles to the actors. Director Will Blum makes an attempt to move the action around but it mostly takes place on or near Charlie’s sofa at one end of the room. The nondescript costumes by Gina Ruiz have the lived-in look of the actors’ own wardrobe, though occasionally they surprise us with something more chic. Paige Seber’s lighting helps with the changes of time and mood.

Soon is a timely attempt to deal with climate change while wedding it to more personal happenings in a person’s life. Writing book, music and lyrics, Nick Blaemire could have used another set of eyes and ears to help with the repetition and dragginess of some of the plot devices. The game cast works harder than most considering they are so close to the audience that they almost in our laps and they have to make everything real. Soon is a diverting small musical which is saved by its last minute revelation which takes the show in a new and more urgent direction.

Soon (through November 8, 2026)

Out of the Box Theatrics in association with Bella Vita Entertainment and Red Horse LLC

The Loft at St. Luke’s Theatre, 308 W. 46^th Street, in Manhattan

For tickets, visit http://www.ootbtheatrics.com

Running time: 100 minutes without an intermission