“Stereophonic” is a new Broadway play about a rock band recording an album in the mid-1970s that sure seems like Fleetwood Mac.
There are two Americans, Diana and Peter, who have been in a relationship for nine years. There are three Brits (Reg, Holly, and Simon), the first two of whom used to be married. The other characters in the play are Grover and Charlie, the engineers in the large recording studio that is the play’s only set.
The plot of ”Stereophonic” is driven by the interpersonal relationships of its characters as they feud, fight, and lay down a half-dozen songs which, despite being written by Arcade Fire’s Will Butler, aren’t particularly memorable. Worse, the lyrics are nearly impossible to discern because the vocals are buried in the mix. In fact, on the way out, the only musical moment I could remember is from the end, when Grover and Holly sing a couple of lines from the Hall and Oates hit, “Sara Smile.”
Peter is the creative force behind the band who pushes the others at every turn. He’s also an asshole who doesn’t miss an opportunity to debase his colleagues, especially the Stevie Nicks-like Diana, with cutting remarks about her talent, her voice, and passion. He’s the kind of narcissistic perfectionist who not only tells his colleagues how to make their parts better, but — since he knows how to play all the instruments — records demos on his own to show them what to do. You can imagine how the others react to those shades of Lindsey Buckingham.
None of the members of the unnamed band are particularly likable, so it falls to Grover and Charlie to add commentary and show us the ongoing frustration of trying to do their jobs while being forced to work long days and nights over multiple months not only putting up with them, but also offering us the few lightly amusing moments of “Stereophonic.”
“Stereophonic” runs far too long across four acts with a single intermission. It’s not until after that interlude that things intensify enough to make me care even a little bit about its characters.
Worse, it offers nothing we haven’t seen already in any number of VH1 “Behind The Music” episodes, the Prime Video series “Daisy Jones and the Six,” jukebox musicals like “Jersey Boys,” or even Tom Hanks’ “That Thing You Do.”
Tomorrow: my review of “An Enemy Of The People,” starring Jeremy Strong and Michael Imperioli [5/1/24]