‘Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson’ hits Broadway

Mad musical offers a jackass mash-up of early 1800s American history

BY MICHAEL SOMMERS

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

BROADWAY REVIEW

Is it a mule? Is it a jackass?

Whatever, a stuffed equine suspends upside down over spectators' heads inside the garishly decked-out auditorium of the Jacobs Theatre, where "Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson" hit Broadway on Wednesday.

Is it a musical? Is it a madhouse?

Actually "BBAJ" is both, as well as a rock-‘em-sock-‘em museum of proud yet shameful American history circa 1790-1840. Further, it is one very cheeky new show that gives the finger to old-school expectations about what a Broadway attraction should be.

A major success downtown at the Public Theater last spring (check out my review here), "BBAJ" has been trimmed to an intermission-free 80 minutes. Otherwise it remains a rambunctious bio-look at our nation's seventh President, Andrew Jackson, and his rowdy populist times — with a tip of the old raccoon cap towards our own Tea Party era.

Writer-director Alex Timbers and composer-lyricist Michael Friedman mash together fractured history, gory fact, thrashing emo-rock tunes, sophomoric comedy and smarty-pants attitude to chronicle and comment upon Jackson's tempestuous doings. Rowdily staged by Timbers as a semi-rock concert with outrageous benefits, the show is raucously performed and memorably designed.

The walls of the auditorium are swathed entirely in whorehouse-crimson hangings. The ceilings are peppered with twinkle lights and dotted with a wild array of crystal chandeliers. Gilt-framed portraits of 1800s worthies line the sides. The stage boxes are stuffed with ante-bellum curiosities, furnishings, taxidermy and plain old junk and, by all means, let's not forget that dangling jackass.

Designer Donyale Werle dreamed up these environs as well as the similarly evocative setting, which flexibly accommodates the musical's fragmented, fleeting, seemingly spontaneous happenings. Justin Townsend's color-drenched concert-style lighting bumps up the visuals while Emily Rebholz's costume mix of rocker wear with period flourishes humorously fits the show's then-and-now mood.

Tall, dark and very handsome Benjamin Walker is beyond charismatic as Jackson, portraying him more like a rock idol than a crusty Presidential icon. A dozen other youngsters depict a hundred other folks while singing the blazes out Friedman's pulsating emo-cratic score banged out by a three-man band. Dear Kristine Nielsen drolly rolls around as the show's cozy narrator until she is gunned down by — well, you'll have to see "BBAJ" to get the joke behind her murder. And to be reminded by the authors how the native population was systematically slaughtered during those glorious times by Jackson and other Americans expanding the nation's boundaries.

Some serious business actually lurks behind the silly showmanship of "BBAJ.

"Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson" continues at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, 242 W. 45th St., New York. Call (212) 239-6200 or visit www.bloodybloodyandrewjackson.com.