Joy: A New True Musical
Under Lorin Latarro’s direction, there is little or no character development in Davenport’s book, with all of the characters remaining the same throughout, and the only thing that propels the show are the surprising events that happen. Joy’s family remains negative and dismissive about her inventing career (while eventually helping out in the marketing) until almost the very end. Davenport fudges the last scene by not telling us how the biased Texas judge ends up ruling in Joy’s favor so that the ending leaves us hanging. When the judge demeans Joy as a one-time inventor, we know that she has one of her clever inventions in her pocket (a reflective dog flea collar) but she never takes it out in her own defense. The songs are more like window dressing than adding much to the show and Milazzo’s generic lyrics tend to be very repetitious and give away their message in their titles. The show might have been more powerful as a straight play without the musical score. [more]