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Molasses in January is a new, original musical playing at the Jerry Orbach Theatre at New York’s Theater Center. This Off-Broadway production tells the story of a disaster in Boston in January 1919. An enormous molasses storage tank burst sending a wave of the thick substance through the streets. The wave ran at an estimated 35 mph killing 21 people and injuring 150. This event is a part of Boston’s history and one that has a lure of stories connected with it. Molasses in January attempts to describe the event from the viewpoint of an immigrant Italian family who live and work in the area.

Molasses in January has a book and music by Francine Pellegrino. Whitney Stone directs the story of Anna, her children Vincent and Rosemary, and their extended family and friends. The family is Italian, and discrimination runs rampant through their area of Boston. The discrimination is particularly harsh against Sicilians, so they try to distinguish themselves by explaining they are Northern Italians. Early on, Anna’s husband leaves the family to live in New York and she is left with the responsibility of earning a living for them all. She accomplishes this by working in a sewing factory until eventually her relative, Aunt Maria, brings her into a dress shop she buys. Anna begins to date Joe also from the neighborhood but runs into problems with his mother.

Anie Delgado and Daniel Artuso

As time goes on and the children grow up, Rosemary gets engaged to Tony who works right in the room where the molasses storage tank is at. When the explosion eventually happens, the family is directly involved as Tony is one of the workers killed. Anna’s husband eventually returns to the family and wants to rekindle the relationship. Anna turns him out and asserts her own independent life as do her children. At various points, the progress of the construction then the actual running of the molasses tank are told by a narrator.  Key is the leakage that develops early on.

The story line has a number of different scenes used to develop it. This creates some problems with the show in that it is choppy in parts. In the first part of the show, there are so many scene changes that the cast is continuously moving up and down the side aisles with exits and entrances to the point that it becomes distracting. Although the story is interesting, there is definite work that needs to be done on smoothing out the scene progressions and giving a better coherence to the entire production.

Anie Delgado, Grace Experience, Lianne Gennaco

Michael Wittenburg provides music direction to a score that has some good pieces and some that could be eliminated. The program lists 19 songs. It seemed like more sitting through the show. Act I, with nine songs works well. Act II with the remaining ten had some tedious moments to it. The actors sing very well, and the Ensemble songs are very well done. But in Act II, every single mention of something new brought a song along with it.  You know the storage tank is waiting to explode so some of the songs just distract from the real theme. Some cutting in that section would help. Also needing work is the choreography. The continual holding a partner’s hands and swinging around did not add anything. There is a tap number that is good but seems out of place since tap isn’t used throughout.

Casting for Molasses in January includes Lianne Gennaco, Anie Delgado, Grace Experience, Cali LaSpina, Emily Samuelson, Joe Marx, Joe Redman, Daniel Artuso, Zachary Harris Martin, and Nathan Armstrong. This group does a fine job with their roles and as previously mentioned, their singing as well.

This show has a good story line and clever idea from which to work. It does need some work done on it. Right now, Molasses in January looks more like a workshop piece rather than a finished product.

additional information

Performances are on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 7:30 p.m.and Saturdays at 5:00 p.m..

Molasses in January plays at the Jerry Orbach Theater located on the third floor of The Theater Center. Elevator entrance is located at 210 West 50th Street (1627 Broadway).