Moby-Dick (2019 musical)

Moby-Dick
	Playbill for the Cambridge production
Music	Dave Malloy
Lyrics	Dave Malloy
Book	Dave Malloy
Basis	Moby-Dick; by Herman Melville
Productions	2014 "The Ballad of Pip" at Joe's Pub ; 2019 American Museum of Natural History ; 2019 Cambridge

Moby-Dick is a stage musical in four parts with lyrics, music and book by Dave Malloy. It is an adaptation of Herman Melville's 1851 novel Moby-Dick, and made its world premiere in December 2019 at the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts, directed by Rachel Chavkin.[1]

Production history

Part III: "The Ballad of Pip" was performed as a standalone jazz song-cycle at Joe's Pub on March 20, 2014.[2]

On July 26, 2019, and July 27, 2019, a 90-minute concert of excerpts from Moby-Dick was performed at the American Museum of Natural History, in the Milstein Hall of Ocean Life underneath the whale.[3]

The musical had its world premiere at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts on December 11, 2019 after one week of previews.[1]

Musical numbers

Prologue

The Sermon – Mapple
Etymology – Ishmael

Part I "The Doubloon"

"Loomings" – Ishmael, Company
"Knights & Squires" – Ishmael, Company

i. Knights & Squires (I)

ii. Knights & Squires (II)

iii. Isolatoes

"A Bosom Friend" – Ishmael, Queequeg, Company
"Ahab" – Company
"The Quarter-Deck" – Ahab, Starbuck, Company
{Whalesong Interlude (I)}/The Albatross – Daggoo, Pip
Sunset – Ahab, Company

Part II "The Honour and Glory of Whaling"

Cetology – Ishmael, Company
Stubb Kills a Whale – Company
Fedallah – Fedallah
The Whale as a Dish/Cutting In – Stubb, Company
A Squeeze of the Hand – Company
The Pequod Meets the Bachelor – Boomer, Sailors
The Try-Works – Ishmael, Fedallah, Company
{Whalesong Interlude (II)} – Tashtego
The Cabin – Ahab, Starbuck
Dusk - Starbuck, Company

Part III "The Ballad of Pip; or, The Castaway"

Pip – Ishmael
Tambourine – Elijah, Company
Shanty – Shanty Singer, Company
Ocean – Mapple, Company
Coda – Ahab, Pip

Part IV "The American Hearse"

The Pacific – Queequeg, Ishmael
Sextet – Company
The Pequod Meets the Rachel – Gardiner, Company
The Symphony – Company
The Chase – Company

i. First Day

ii. Second Day

iii. Third Day

Roll On {Whalesong Interlude (III)} – Tashtego, Daggoo, Company

Epilogue

Cast

Character	Original Cambridge Cast (2019)[4]
Ishmael	Manik Choksi
Captain Ahab	Tom Nelis
Father Mapple/Captain of the Albatross/Captain Boomer of the Bachelor/Captain Gardiner of the Rachel	Dawn L. Troupe
Queequeg	Andrew Cristi
Fedallah	Eric Berryman
Starbuck	Starr Busby
Stubb	Kalyn West
Flask	Anna Ishida
Tashtego	Matt Kizer
Daggoo	J.D. Mollison
Pip	Morgan Siobhan Green
Sailor 1/The Blacksmith	Ashkon Davaran
Sailor 2/The Carpenter	Kim Blanck

Reception

The Cambridge production was generally well reviewed, with praise for the music and the work of scenic designer Mimi Lien in particular, while common criticisms included the 3 ¹⁄₂-hour length and the "The Ballad of Pip" section. Don Aucoin of the Boston Globe wrote that it was "ambitiously conceived and superbly executed ... if occasionally self-indulgent,"[5] while Carolyn Clay of WBUR's ARTery called it "an extraordinary sum of diverse parts."[6] On the other hand, Christopher Caggiano of The Arts Fuse criticized the production for trying to adapt the entire book, and for "forcing" contemporary parallels.[7]

References

McPhee, Ryan (Dec 11, 2019). "World Premiere of Dave Malloy's Moby-Dick Musical Opens December 11 at the American Repertory Theater". Playbill. Retrieved December 26, 2019.
"Dave Malloy's official website". Retrieved January 22, 2020.
Gans, Andrew (May 14, 2019). "Museum of Natural History to Present Excerpts From New Dave Malloy Musical, Moby-Dick". Playbill. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
"Moby-Dick". American Repertory Theater. Retrieved December 26, 2019.
Aucoin, Don (Dec 12, 2019). "A captivating 'Moby-Dick' that ripples through time". Boston Globe. Retrieved December 27, 2019.
Clay, Carolyn (Dec 13, 2019). "In The A.R.T.'s Musical 'Moby-Dick,' The Whale Is An Extraordinary Sum Of Diverse Parts". WBUR-FM ARTery. Retrieved December 29, 2019.
Caggiano, Christopher (Dec 20, 2019). "A Musical "Moby-Dick" Lumbers from its Seabed at the A.R.T." The Arts Fuse. Retrieved December 29, 2019.

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[playbill1-1] McPhee, Ryan (Dec 11, 2019). "World Premiere of Dave Malloy's Moby-Dick Musical Opens December 11 at the American Repertory Theater". Playbill. Retrieved December 26, 2019.

[2] "Dave Malloy's official website". Retrieved January 22, 2020.

[playbill2-3] Gans, Andrew (May 14, 2019). "Museum of Natural History to Present Excerpts From New Dave Malloy Musical, Moby-Dick". Playbill. Retrieved December 24, 2019.

[art-4] "Moby-Dick". American Repertory Theater. Retrieved December 26, 2019.

[globe-5] Aucoin, Don (Dec 12, 2019). "A captivating 'Moby-Dick' that ripples through time". Boston Globe. Retrieved December 27, 2019.

[wbur-6] Clay, Carolyn (Dec 13, 2019). "In The A.R.T.'s Musical 'Moby-Dick,' The Whale Is An Extraordinary Sum Of Diverse Parts". WBUR-FM ARTery. Retrieved December 29, 2019.

[artsfuse-7] Caggiano, Christopher (Dec 20, 2019). "A Musical "Moby-Dick" Lumbers from its Seabed at the A.R.T." The Arts Fuse. Retrieved December 29, 2019.