Journey To The Bottom Of The Bottle – “Days Of Wine And Roses”

While musical theatre can often romanticize or glamorize subject matter, that’s not the case with the new Broadway musical Days of Wine and Roses.

Adapted from a 1958 teleplay and 1962 movie of the same name, this is a shattering, unflinching view of a 1950s-era couple in search of stable ground as they find themselves battling alcohol addiction.

In the opening scene, we’re introduced to New York City public relations guy Joe Clay (Brian d’Arcy James), who’s hosting a corporate business party aboard a yacht in the East River. In addition to free-flowing booze, he’s also arranged for some female companionship for the male execs attending the cocktail hour.

Already imbibing in the middle of the event (which he calls “magic time”), Joe mistakes Kelli O’Hara’s Kirsten Arnesen (his boss’s secretary) for one of the women he’s hired. He’s a free-wheeling, business and booze guy; she’s pretty and prim, fresh from the farm.

In an attempt to smooth the moment, Joe goes to his default: “How about a drink?” But Kirsten doesn’t drink, as she’s never liked the taste or seen the need to. But Joe persists, and after a little digging into her likes, he orders her a dessert-y Brandy Alexander. She tastes, tastes again, and soon, he’s won her over.

We witness their head-over-heels love story that quickly turns dark and disturbing as they spiral deep into their addiction to alcohol. Along the 95-minute one-act musical, they fall together and apart, imploding not only their own lives but also impacting their daughter Lila (Tabitha Lawing), who grows up almost raising herself.

At one point, they try to get sober, seeking safety working at the plant nursery of Kirsten’s father (Byron Jennings). Therein lies the metaphor for the “roses” of the play’s title – a nurturing place where things may grow if given a chance to survive. But the couple soon slides out of sobriety back into their slow descent.

There’s no attempt to make this “music theatre pretty” or moderate the material for the audience’s ease. This is challenging stuff, a brutal and disturbing journey to the bottom of the bottle with no softening of the fall.

The show’s creators couldn’t ask for two better actors to meet the challenges at hand. The duo, who share unmistakable chemistry (they previously worked together in the 2002 Broadway musical Sweet Smell of Success), are at the peak of their artistic powers. James (4-time Tony Award nominee) exudes a gregarious, magnetic likeability (at least when sober) – which pairs perfectly with his rich, bourbon-smooth baritone. O’Hara’s Kirsten is a thousand shades of light and dark as we follow her devastating spiral into hell. The Tony Award winner (for The King & I) can apparently sing anything, moving with equal ease from bubbly be-bopping in “Are You Blue” to full-throated thunder in her reprise of “Forgiveness.” The original Broadway cast recording is available on all digital music platforms including Spotify. https://open.spotify.com/track/6pP0FCcyRTIasg3bI0xwVV?si=604ecb15a86d4760

Adam Guettel, the grandson of the legendary composer Richard Rodgers, serves up a score that can be euphoric and bubbly (“Evanesce”) or soothing like a baby’s lullaby (“As the Water Loves the Stone”).

Throughout, he scatters elements of jazz and art-song, imbuing the score with pain, defiance, survivorship, and sorrow. If you’re familiar with the breezy Academy Award-winning title song from the 1962 film, you should know that this “Days of Wine and Roses” is an entirely different musical animal.

Director Michael Grief maintains the requisite tight dramatic tension throughout, even as the actors seem to fly high (or low) without restriction. Craig Lucas’s book is so solid that it could almost stand alone as a play.

The scenic elements (set design by Lizzie Clachan, lighting by Ben Stanton) conjure 1950s New York City with both expansiveness and intimacy. The period musical staging by by Sergio Trujillo and Karla Puno Garcia.

From boozy euphoria to dark and desperate, Days of Wine and Roses is a searing exploration into addiction and self-destruction.

Days of Wine and Roses (one act – 95 minutes) ends its limited run on Broadway at Studio 54 on March 31.

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