T. CHARLES ERICKSON
Jasmine Forsberg and Benji Santiago co-star in “I & You: The Musical,” which is currently having its world premiere at The McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton.
“I and this mystery here we stand.”
Anthony — one of the two characters in “I & You: The Musical,” which is currently being presented by The McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton — introduces himself to the other character, Caroline, with these words. They are from Walt Whitman’s poem “Song of Myself”; Whitman figures largely in this musical, which, like Whitman’s writings, is rooted in the mundane realities of life but takes a life-affirming turn toward the cosmic.
Lauren M. Gunderson’s play “I and You” premiered in 2013 at The Marin Theatre in Mill Valley, California, with direction by Sarah Rasmussen. This is the world premiere of the musical version, which features a book by Gunderson; music, lyrics and orchestration by Ari Afsar; and direction, again, by Rasmussen, who has been McCarter’s artistic director since 2020.
“I and You,” the play, has continued to be produced widely since 2013. And “I & You: The Musical” should fare just as well.
T. CHARLES ERICKSON
Benji Santiago and Jasmine Forsberg in “I & You: The Musical.”
The musical — which features Jasmine Forsberg as Caroline, Benji Santiago as Anthony, and a five-piece offstage band — takes place almost entirely in Caroline’s cluttered bedroom, which is filled with stuffed animals and pillows in all kinds of bright colors, and Christmas lights, with posters and art covering nearly every inch of the walls. (Great, fanciful work by scenic designer Beowulf Boritt.)
A senior in high school, Caroline has been sick for nearly her whole life; there is something wrong with her liver. And while she has been able to live normally, for the most part, her ailment has recently taken a turn for the worse, and she has retreated to her room while awaiting a desperately needed liver transplant. Her only contact with the outside world seems to be through her mother, and her online posting.
But then Anthony — a classmate whom she barely knows — barges into her room, saying that he has come to her house looking for her help with some homework, and that her mother pointed him toward Caroline’s bedroom door. He needs to finish a project on Whitman, and it involves making a fancy poster, and he is bad at art, and he knows Caroline is good at it. So he is hoping that she will help him, and that they can submit the poster as a joint project.
Caroline suspects that her mother has come up with this as a “scheme,” so that she will “feel included” at school, even though she can’t be there physically. She is angry at the world (a “wannabe rebel,” she sings, self-mockingly) and resists helping Anthony, initially. But Anthony is persistent, and earnestly sells her on the profundities of Whitman’s poetry. Lines such as Whitman’s most famous pronouncement — “Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself, (I am large, I contain multitudes.)” — have really resonated with him, and changed the way he looks at the world.
Caroline begins to let her guard down, a bit, and performs some of her own music for Anthony. Anthony tells her a shocking story about watching a basketball player die — on the court, during a game.
She decides to make a video, so that she can be part of his presentation about Whitman, in class. They connect — not in a big, Hollywood-romance way, but enough.
T. CHARLES ERICKSON
Benji Santiago and Jasmine Forsberg in “I & You: The Musical.”
I have never seen “I and You,” the play, so I figured Gunderson would stop at this point. And if she had, this would have been a nice little musical about two teens who have spent an intense day with each other, and possibly found their soulmates.
But Gunderson then makes “I & You: The Musical” not just good, but great, with a wild and very satisfying ending that — in a sense — deconstructs everything that has come before, and puts it back together in a more meaningful way.
Whitman would have appreciated Gunderson’s ambition, and audacity. And I feel like I need to see “I & You: The Musical” again, at some point, in order to savor all the multitudes that Gunderson, Afsar and everyone else involved have packed into it. It is a magical, memorable theatrical experience.
The McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton will present “I & You: The Musical” at its Berlind Theatre through Oct. 12. Visit mccarter.org.
The musical is a co-production with The Olney Theate Center in Olney, Maryland, which will present it in April and May. Visit olneytheatre.org.
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