For a jukebox musical set in 1965 New York City — that tackles feminism, civil rights activism and the Vietnam War — “A Sign of the Times” positive features a lot of songs via the British singer Petula Clark. When the lead characters flip up at a birthday party hosted via Randy Forthwall, an artsy kind in a silver-white fright wig (would Andy Schmarhol were too on the nostril?), he even complains that Clark is a no-show.
She would possibly not have made it to Randy’s shindig, however her hits are far and wide this reveal, together with “Downtown,” “Color My World,” “I Know a Place,” “Don’t Sleep in the Subway,” “Round Every Corner” and the identify observe.
This is a head-scratching selection as a result of the tale — which revolves round a pleasing Midwesterner, Cindy (Chilina Kennedy), who goals of being a photographer in the large town — is bodily, tonally and culturally far off from Clark’s light-pop universe.
It all begins making sense as that after “A Sign of the Times” premiered at Goodspeed Opera House in 2016, with a e book via Bruce Vilanch, Clark’s title used to be put ahead in all the descriptions. The present iteration, which is at New World Stages with a e book credited to Lindsey Hope Pearlman, properly learned a Petula Clark reveal would possibly now not draw large crowds. It advertises itself extra generically, and there are lots of non-Clark songs, most commonly of the very, very acquainted sort: “Rescue Me,” “Gimme Some Lovin’,” “Last Train to Clarksville” and so forth. (The reveal is in keeping with an concept via Richard J. Robin, who may be presenting this manufacturing in partnership with the York Theater Company.)
Sadly, the graft didn’t take. “A Sign of the Times” pulls each which approach, clumsily trumpeting inclusivity and empowerment whilst shoehorning in hits that may really feel selected randomly, and with little regard for the motion’s date stamp since a number of songs got here out after 1965. Keeping us conscious are some comically distracting main points — via all way, glance up what a yellow bandanna in the proper again pocket of a person’s denims intended in homosexual cruising circles — and choreography, via JoAnn M. Hunter, that necessarily recycles a handful of the most elementary strikes from the “Hullabaloo” selection reveal.
But again to our Ohio bumpkin. After dumping her casually sexist boyfriend, Matt (Justin Matthew Sargent), Cindy takes to the air for New York. Luckily for target market participants, her new roommate, the aspiring singer Tanya, is performed via the very good Crystal Lucas-Perry, a 2023 Tony nominee for “Ain’t No Mo’.” Lucas-Perry and Akron Lanier Watson, as Tanya’s activist boyfriend, stay the reveal cooking. They even arrange to triumph over the band’s slack backbeat, which undermines any try at zip or punch. (The tune manager Joseph Church did the preparations and orchestrations; Britt Bonney is the tune director.)
Less fortunate in love than Tanya, Cindy falls for Brian (Ryan Silverman), a slick advert guy. After her buddy warns her about the Madison Avenue sort, Cindy replies, “But he is exactly what I imagined a guy from New York would be,” then launches into “Boy From New York City” — as a result of there’s no higher transition right into a track than an glaring one.
Gabriel Barre’s manufacturing is slightly sumptuous for an Off Broadway musical: Five leads and a 10-member ensemble is not anything to smell at at the present time. But filling a degree does now not robotically translate to filling an area. Even Petula Clark didn’t have a track about that conundrum.
A Sign of the Times
At New World Stages, Manhattan; asignofthetimes.com. Running time: 2 hours half-hour.