‘The Heart’ Has an Irresistible Beat of its Own

I can’t say with complete authority that “The Heart” is the first musical ever written about an organ transplant. But I’d certainly never seen one before catching it off-Broadway recently, and I’ll admit that I entered the Roundabout Theatre Company’s Laura Pels Theatre, where the show is now having its New York premiere, with a mix of skepticism and anxiety.A press release for the production divulges that the musical, based on “Réparer les vivants,” a novel by French author Maylis de Kerangal, involves a young person whose “life is cut short,” as well as two families, one obviously related to that person. So it won’t be giving too much away, and seems only responsible, to warn prospective viewers that “Heart” addresses the worst kind of tragedy, and it does so with a sense of intimacy and attention to detail that can be difficult to watch.We meet Simon Lamar, a spry, 19-year-old surfer given a silky voice and an effortless exuberance by Nick T. Daly, just moments before the car accident that will render him brain dead. Medical scans showing the neurological devastation fill an enormous screen on stage and are explained by doctors and nurses, while Simon’s mother, Marianne—played with warmth and grace by Joaquina Kalukango, who has given robust performances in several Broadway productions— moves about, devastated, wondering if her son, whose physical presence will linger, was in pain or cried for her.It’s tough to imagine that a show could continue in this direction, as “Heart” essentially does, without becoming intolerably depressing or sentimental, or both. But composers and lyricists Anne Eisendrath and Ian Eisendrath and librettist Kait Kerrigan, who wrote additional lyrics, have invested the show with a vitality and wit that, under the brisk guidance of Christopher Ashley, the Roundabout’s new artistic director, keep it pumping while fully realizing the story’s poignance.Mr. and Ms. Eisendrath, who are married, have provided a score and musical arrangements driven by electronic textures, so that the songs literally evoke a thumping heart, or a restless one, or even one that’s breaking. They can also, like some of the best electronic dance music, be surprisingly melodic, an asset that’s well-served by the supple-voiced performers—who, for the most part, keep the vocal gymnastics that have crept from pop and R&B music into musical theater to a minimum. Lucy Mackinnon’s dazzling video design reinforces the pressures bearing down on Marianne and her ex-husband, Sean (a rugged, touching Jason Tam), as they debate whether to donate their son’s organs, and the often frantic urgency accompanying the next steps, with a digital clock tracking the musical’s 24-hour journey. Choreographer Mandy Moore, who worked with Taylor Swift on her “the Eras tour,” enhances the suspense with mostly simple but vigorous moves — a skill that has no doubt served her well, as even the most ardent Swifties would be hard pressed to describe their idol as a nimble dancer.We’re introduced to Thomas, an organ transplant coordinator who can be as droll as he is gentle and determined, nicely played and beautifully sung by Lincoln Clauss. Drew Gehling, who played the amusingly neurotic Dr. Pomatter in the original Broadway production of “Waitress,” is hilarious and charming as Dr. Breva, the rather sharper-edged mensch who performs the surgery that allows Simon’s heart to live on.Musical theater veteran Heidi Blickenstaff is cast as the lucky recipient, Claire, a middle-aged woman who has all but resigned herself to an early death when Dr. Breva delivers the good news. In “Too Young,” one of the show’s most moving numbers, Claire writes a letter expressing both her gratitude and her sense of guilt, at one point telling Simon’s parents, “It should be me instead.”The show ends on an equally poignant note, one that transcends corn through crisp presentation and sheer imaginativeness. Opening just about a week after the stirring musical adaptation of “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” did at the Public Theater, “The Heart” offers another jolt of hope that this season will prove better for musicals than the last one—off-Broadway, at least.

‘The Heart’ Has an Irresistible Beat of its Own

‘The Heart’ Has an Irresistible Beat of its Own

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