Rep’s ‘Prelude to a Kiss’ Is Potent Musical

Milwaukee Repertory Theater presents Prelude to a Kiss a Musical at the Sharon Lynne Wilson Center for The Arts, September 10 – October 19, 2024. Pictured: Karen Ziemba, James Moye, Caitlin Houlahan and Chris McCarrell. Photo by Michael Brosilow.

For the next month, the Milwaukee Rep’s mainstage subscribers are trekking to the handsome Harris Theater in the Sharon Lynne Wilson Center for the Arts in Brookfield.

It is literally a prelude – titled Prelude to a Kiss a musical – for what awaits them next season when the Powerhouse stage in downtown Milwaukee is renovated to allow for wider seats and a less constrained tech experience — such as flying scenery above the stage or a moving walkway that is actually a rotating turntable, which this show now features.

All this, plus handsome costumes, busy projections, a small orchestra aloft onstage led by keyboardist Wiley DeWeese, director Kenneth Ferrone’s constant in-and-out action to create living spaces and Julia Rhoads’ ensemble choreography – with touches of Twyla Tharp and whirling umbrellas. Such activity is top heavy but sure to hypnotize patrons. And the assembled voices are first class.

The story is a fairy tale updated to modern times in a musical version by experienced composer Daniel Messé, with lyrics by him and Sean Hartley. But Prelude to a Kiss started in 1990 as a Craig Lucas play without songs and then a popular movie with Meg Ryan and Alec Baldwin. With some cast changes and a few musical alterations, it already played earlier this year at Costa Mesa’s South Coast Repertory, a company involved for more than two decades with Lucas. The show is now co-produced as a “world premiere” with the Milwaukee Rep.

Veteran Rep actor Jonathan Gillard Daly has been with the musical from the start – in the key role of Julius. He is the magical presence in the naturalistic fable, which unfolds in two parts.

First we have the central couple falling in love in a fetching frank courtship sung with superior charm by Chris McCarrell as Peter and Caitlin Houlahan as Rita. His acting is nuanced, and his fine singing also requires a meaningful falsetto. He is trying to intelligently underplay his journey, which begins with a sense of happiness that he has discovered love and a new family. Houlahan’s Rita is beguiling and a bit conflicted and despairing. That’s her character, which she reveals with charm, but the developments need more from Houlahan than superior singing to make us react to her internal dilemmas. The problem may be more in the script and the score, but I also think director Ferrone doesn’t pause and pace properly to develop the characters.

While the music is always entertaining, its most hummable moments are derivative. For instance, the audience has the most fun when Rita’s parents – James Moye and the broadly funny showstopper Karen Ziemba – erupt in a familiar hoedown. In the second act, Julie Garnyé as Leah powerfully sings and emotes “The Man He Used to Be.” It is a great song idea in need of even better melodics.

But that brings us to the second half, when Peter tries to sort out what happened to Rita after she kissed Julius at the wedding. This is a supernatural transformation, which leads to comic and human complications, with Daly as Julius having some amusing moments in trying to find his life’s meaning while in Rita’s body.

Back in 1990, Prelude was perceived as an allegory about AIDS. Times change. Updated as a romantic fable for today, it still holds an allegorical message, but more about commitment and the perseverance of love. The audience wants it to work.

What keeps it from knitting totally together is the marriage between concept and music. It is not consistent.

Yes, today’s musicals no longer require a Top 40 showtune, just songs that get inside characters, situations and feelings. This score is very pleasant, with a keen ear for popular styles and harmonics. Some of the lyrics and acting are moving toward the right mark, such as “A New Life” and “Not Me.” But I lean toward tightening the human connections and cutting down on 18 songs. The general singing excellence of the cast is not a total compensation.

With a spacious parking lot at the Sharon Lynne Wilson Center (3270 Mitchell Park Dr., Brookfield), and performances through October 19, Prelude to a Kiss a musical actually opens the mainstage season for the Rep. The season will later occupy spaces at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts and the Rep’s own Stiemke Studio.

Prelude to a Kiss Gallery

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Dominique Paul Noth served for decades as film and drama critic, later senior editor for features at the Milwaukee Journal. You’ll find his blog here and here.