Martin Storrow’s semi-autobiographical “fantasy musical memoir”, King of Pangea, about escaping into a fantasy world as a way to navigate grief, sensitively draws from his personal experience of dealing with the illness and eventual death of his mother.
The main protagonist, Sam Crow, is presented both as an 11-year-old child coping with his forever-hopeful mother’s battle with cancer (and surviving), and as a 21-year-old adult returning from his studies to deal with his dying mother as her terminal cancer returns.
As 21-year-old Sam struggles to comprehend the finality of death, he remembers his 11-year-old self escaping to the imaginary Island of Pangea as a coping mechanism, and returns there as an adult to pick up the pieces of his life.
King of Pangea opens with a whimper rather than a bang and, despite containing some of the main themes of the production, the first 20 minutes fail to engage and really drag. Then, just as it feels that the show is starting to flat-line, it is saved by Mark Curry as Elijah, a 1,000-year-old prophet who brings a much-needed energising lift to the evening with the bouncy song Everyone I Love (Is Dead!)
Although sometimes saccharine, Storrow’s inventive song lyrics are its strongest asset and are well showcased in the rap (very Hamilton-style) The Curriculum and the title number King of Pangea.
With its short running time, the book itself gets lost as it tries to cover hugely complex existential dilemmas and universal concepts.
In King of Pangea, Storrow seems to suggest that optimism is the answer to dealing with life’s big challenges, but after an hour and a half of listening to Disneyfied responses like hope is the way home, this rejoinder starts to feel trite and slightly grating.
Due to Richard Israel’s uninspired direction, King of Pangea dramatically has little light and shade. It seems to be permanently stuck in second gear and never gets the much-needed oomph to take it up a level.
Alfie Blackwell gives an impressive debut as the older Sam Crow, while Sophia Ragavelas shines as his mother in the beautiful song Today I Am Here. Mark Curry oozes charisma as the prophet Elijah and enlivens the stage at every appearance.
Dan Burton gives a strong vocal performance as the salty sea captain with the shanty The Thing About the River, and although underused, Emily Tang has a memorable stage presence.
At 90 minutes straight through with no intermission, King of Pangea is a mixed bag of hits and misses, and still has quite a way to go on its creative journey before it hits its mark.
