Theatre Review: Kid Victory Brings Light To The Darkness Of Sex Abuse

KID VICTORY, a hauntingly mesmerizing new musical, is the latest collaboration from the creators of Vineyard Theatre’s THE LANDING, composer John Kander (CABARET, CHICAGO, THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS) and acclaimed playwright Greg Pierce (SLOWGIRL, HER REQUIEM). Seventeen-year-old Luke returns to his small Kansas town after a wrenching one-year absence. As his friendship grows with the town misfit, Emily, his parents realize that in order to truly find their son, they must confront some unnerving truths about his disappearance. Directed by Liesl Tommy (Broadway’s ECLIPSED, recipient of The Vineyard’s Susan Stroman Directing Award) in her Vineyard debut, KID VICTORY is a riveting original musical about breaking out and breaking through. KID VICTORY is a co-production with Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia.

Beautiful and tragedy are not two words we put together. Yet, from tragedy, virtues like resilience, strength, compassion, love, and even humility are born. Enlightenment can come from suffering, and Kid Victory may be one of the best/ most harrowing musicals to hit off Broadway and teach this valuable lesson. 

First and foremost, I must warn that Kid Victory is a tale of sex abuse. Luke is kidnapped from his parents, Eileen and Joseph , and sexually abused by Jeffrey Denman’s creepy Michael. Denman gives Michael a derangement and combustible personality that is laced with moments of charm/perceived kindness. His ability to make Michael, even for an instant, likable explains why Luke is attached to him and left to sort his mind, body, spirit, and altogether identity from such heinous action. Kid Victory does an excellent job in showing the twisted dynamic between victim and abuser, and why healing can feel like such a sordid, if not, impossible path. Brandon Flynn is riveting as Luke; showing a young man discovering who he is beyond the pain and, at times, mania his abuser imposed upon him. Blessed with a voice that drips with vocal nuance, Flynn makes a subtle breath between his notes feel like a world of searing thoughts rushed through his character. He knows how to make you feel Luke’s hurt in the subtlest of movements, which due to the subject matter, can pierce through the audience. From the moment you meet Luke, alone and singing a gospel of mutual hope and resignation, “Lord Carry Me Home”, you know you are going to personally invest in his journey for the next 1 hour and 45 minutes.

Karen Ziemba as Eileen and Daniel Jenkins as Joseph will tear viewers apart in their attempt to mend Luke and themselves.  Ziemba gives Eileen an eagerness to fix “Luke” that can come off delusional and over-bearing, if it were not for the undercurrent of desperation she carries to make a horror, like kidnapping and sex abuse, be erased from her child’s history. You both want to shake her, but understand that the hardest pill for a parent to swallow is their child’s pain. Meanwhile, Jenkins gives Joseph a quiet empathy that seems to endlessly bustle over like a waterfall. Just when you want to think he is weak, he shows his strength and surprising compassion. His relationship with Luke is fascinating, and plays a “heart” to the show, alongside with Luke’s interactions with Suze (Laura Darrell), Gail (Ann Arvia), and Dee Roscioli (Emily). By “heart”, I mean Luke’s journey of sexuality as he tries to come to terms with being gay and sexually abused. All these heavy themes are eased by the gorgeous book and lyrics by Greg Pierce, whose songs felt twilighted with hope even when a character is singing at their most broken like, “A Single Tear”, “There Was A Boy”, and”You, If Anyone”. His arrangement feels like a thick breeze for however heavy the air feels, you know it will still flow away: a sentiment reflective of John Kander’s emotional story of a young man trying to overcome a terrifying ordeal. 

Kid Victory IS a victory. Liesl Tommy has directed a play that both punches and holds your heart with sentiment. With a crisp set by Clint Ramos and a light design by David Weiner, you are transported to a Kansas city that is small, minimal, and wistful in nature, but heavy in struggle. Kid Victory is playing at Vineyard Theatre until March 19, 2017. Click Here For More Information And To Buy Tickets. 
Vineyard Theatre: 108 East 15th Street | New York, NY 10003
Kid Victory is 1 hour and 45 minutes with no intermission