Theater Online - New York Theater Reviews

Peter James Zielinski ©2025  MK Lawson and Eric William Morris

Snark is all around the theaters of New York these days, and even if you think you've OD'd on the musical mash-ups of retro-themes with post-modern tweaks (Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson being the most popular-but to my admittedly minority mind-the least rewarding offering of late), Joe Iconis's Bloodsong of Love still offers some fresh perspective. Penning a spaghetti western flavored revenge tale of The Musician (Eric William Morris), vowing to rescue his long-lost love Santa Violetta (MK Lawson) from evil, helium-voiced villain/performer Lo Cocodrilo (Jeremy Morse), Iconis lets loose a flurry of musical styles, from country to rock to old-fashioned want songs. And what yields is probably the most outstanding musical score to be heard anywhere in the city right now, a truly impressive melange of tunes that always keep Bloodsong on track, even when it begins to wander off, much like the guitar-strumming hero of the story.

Iconis (Things to Ruin, ReWrite) specializes in unusual depictions of seemingly straightforward genres, and this one is no exception. The Musician, paired with his slow-witted but adorably loyal sidekick Banana (Lance Rubin), find themselves entangled in all sorts of shenanigans in the narrator's (Jason “SweetTooth” Williams) story of “a tiny town with no name”, and Iconis has tremendous fun with the premise. Throughout the two-act musical, played with gusto on Ars Nova's limited stage that the company does marvelously creative things with, you get treated to a woman bathing herself in fish, a one-eyed bartender who comically misses his drink targets, a baddie with a penchant for gnawing turkey legs while singing about dog penises, and lots and lots of splattered blood. (And if you happen to seat yourself in the major spatter section, you even get a nifty little rain jacket, though even I got a taste of it-right on my little notepad).

Peter James Zielinski ©2025  Cast of Bloodsong

Iconis's book isn't quite as assured as his score; when the musical takes on a more somber tone in Act II it loses its grasp a bit, especially in a lengthy scene where The Musician meets a Strange Man (also played by Williams) who fashions a sailboat in the desert (though this scene contains perhaps the loveliest song Iconis has ever written, the wistful ballad “Last on Land”). But director John Simpkins, a frequent collaborator, and their crack team of musicians and designers, keep spirits very high, and the infectious spirit is palpable. The cast is also quite hard-working, though Morris and Rubin-a wonderful duo-decisively set the tone of the piece with their cheeky comic portrayals. They also seem the most natural on stage, and are terrific singers too-a major asset, since Iconis's knockout score (which, to my ears, seemed most influenced by Richard O'Brien's The Rocky Horror Show above all else) absolutely requires talented vocalists with varied range. On that note (no pun intended), mention should also be made of the powerhouse pipes of Katrina Rose Dideriksen, who offers her bravura belt in a variety of smaller female roles.

But this is Iconis's triumph at the end of the day (or would it be night“). For years touted as the Next Big Thing in musical theater (with Ed Kleban and Jonathan Larson Awards to prove it), Bloodsong of Love might finally be the breakout hit he needs to deservedly seize the title once and for all.