What is it about?
The Lonely Few is a new musical with a book by Rachel Bonds and music and lyrics by Zoe Sarnak.
Directed by Trip Cullman and Ellenore Scott, The Lonely Few tells the story of Lila and her band: The Lonely Few, as they play their usual gig at their hometown hot spot, Paul’s Juke Joint. This is all in small-town Kentucky where nothing changes and the people all stay the same while fitting into a very specific box. Lila; however, does not fit into this idea of what everyone thinks she should be and instead focuses on seeing her alcoholic brother alive, the rent paid, and keeping the band together. She feels trapped in her small town and feels the pull of her desires being swept under the rug as she fights for her family following the death of her mother, after all she values the loyalty of her family over her own success.
Things suddenly change when a well-known musician, Amy suddenly comes into town. Amy gives the band, including Lila, JJ, Dylan, and Paul the chance of a lifetime to open up for her on the road on her tour; however, that is not all she has to offer. Tension builds between Lila and Amy as the two start to fall in love, Lila knows she can't bring her back home, and can’t leave her brother but Amy wants to keep fighting for her music career.
On the road, Lila is forced to make a decision to go back home to Kentucky or to stay and explore her own music career with Amy. She is left to her own devices and forced to confront her life at home as well as what it means for her future going back to Small-town Kentucky.
A Brief History:
The Lonely Few was commissioned by and originally premiered at Geffen Playhouse in March of 2023 and was created by the minds of Bonds and Sarnak. In an interview with Dramaturg Phaedea Michelle Scott, Bonds explained that they wanted to make a smaller scale musical, something more in line with “Hedwig, where the cast are also the musicians” and following the pitching of the idea Zoe was on board and already had some songs ready to go. Most of Sarnak’s work seemed from a common theme:
“Heartbreak, sexuality, and the coming of age as a queer woman.”
From there on out the show was shaped with a concert style in mind and a strong female front-runner of the band, Lila who was played by Lauren Patten in both the world premiere and the Off-Broadway premiere. The creation of the story began prior to the pandemic and at one point was thought to be a potential screenplay, and eventually landed on the idea that it is a staged show, but with two main characters.
Scouring interviews between both Bonds and Sarnak, one thing seems clear with their intentions with The Lonely Few: it's a love story but not just between the two protagonists. It is a love of art, family, and a celebration of identity.
During the show's LA run, it was 2 hours 15 with one intermission and in NYC the show was cut down to 1 hour and 45 minutes with no intermission. This was not the only switch as the show made its way across the United States. The character, Amy was originally split-cast in LA and played by both Nyla Sostre and Ciara Renée. Following the LA run, in NYC Taylor Man Jones took over the role.
Another larger-scale difference between the LA and New York productions was the role of Adam. Adam was played by Joshua Close in LA and by Peter Mark Kendall in New York. Other than these two roles the cast remains largely the same as well as the creative team.
Now playing at MCC, The Lonely Few officially opened on May 19 with a limited run up until June 2nd. The Lonely Few has numerous ticket options including on-stage $25 tickets and a plethora of other options based on whatever preference one may have for the theater-going experience.
What did you think?
The Lonely Few is a celebration of queer identity and romance in a way we have not seen many musicals approach. It was incredibly heartwarming, especially as a queer woman myself, to see a relationship represented on stage authentically and honestly. So often queer relationships are played out on stage as an afterthought or with an agenda, but The Lonely Few told the story of a realistic person, struggling to balance all the love she has for everyone around her, her family, band, and now Amy. Their relationship was dynamic and messy at times but yet retained a sense of realism throughout the entirety of the conversation. So often my largest quarrel with the writing of queer romances is the romanticism of specifically sapphic relationships. They are real, messy, and not a perfect fantasy every single time. The Lonely Few is refreshing in that Bonds’ book portrays them as this realist representation. Lila and Amy are both flawed and complicated characters who have specific wants and desires in their life and struggle to find a happy balance between them.
While I loved the story at its core, the pacing was not quite where I would have wanted, some moments felt rushed and others felt dragged along. The show desperately needs an intermission and while I did not see the Los Angeles production I wonder if keeping the two hours was a better fit for this story. With this being said, I do not believe this to be a deal-breaking fault of the show. New work needs to evolve with the audiences it is being presented to and needs to be given the space to explore its narrative techniques. The Lonely Few had an incredibly fun score that coupled with the actors playing their own instruments led to a more personal understanding of their character.
The story of a girl trapped in a small town is not new, and despite that The Lonely Few makes use of this storyline and transforms the conversation with a mix of rock meets musical theatre style music. Bonds' book has moments of deep clarity yet others of cliche tag lines, but coupled with Sarnak's score the show holds it's own.
A major stand out to me was Lauren Patten, who previously won a Tony Award in 2020 following her performance as Jo in Jagged Little Pill. Vocally she stuns, commanding attention at every given point she is on stage. Whether it be when Lila's band is performing or when she is physically leaping across tables, placed intermittently around the stage. Patten sings with grit and passion yet holds space for slow ballads that stun.
So much of this show is doing exactly what I want and had hoped it would present, yet there are moments, especially the pacing, that did not work for me. The Lonely Few absolutely deserves the time and attention and is a fantastic choice especially if you are in the market for a new and creative musical that incorporates immersive techniques and is coupled with a fabulous score. The performers stun and no one is left in the shadows as they each showcase their impeccable talents.
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