In watching Message in a Bottle, a new show featuring hip-hop-styled dance choreography set to the music of Sting and his former band the Police, one can’t help but feel how timely its themes are in the context of today’s news. The nearly two-hour performance conjures images ripped from the news headlines: the horrors of war, the displacement of families, and the plight of migrants and how authorities treat them once they do arrive in their new land.
That’s not exactly the happiest of subjects compared to previous and current theatrical presentations featuring the big hits by contemporary pop and rock artists (a.k.a., the “jukebox musicals” like Movin’ Out, Jersey Boys, Mamma Mia! and the most recent offering on Broadway, The Heart of Rock and Roll). And yet Message in a Bottle–which was directed and choreographed by Kate Prince of ZooNation, and recently made its debut at New York City Center as part of a North American tour after being staged in London in 2020– is a departure from some of those productions in that there is no dialogue or narration–it just merely lets the phenomenal dancers and Sting’s songs tell the story. The result is a powerful and entertaining experience that has garnered positive reviews in the press.
The first act in the production introduces us to a family in the fictional village of Bebko who share a tight and loving bond until a civil war causes that family to break apart and force three siblings to leave their home for a better life. They’ve become separated from each other, enduring challenges and hardships on their own as refugees living in detention. How the trio learns to cope and survive in an unforgiving environment without losing their dignity and faith is the focus of the production’s second act, and its rousing conclusion had the audience members (as was the case with the show’s Saturday matinee performance) standing up and cheering.
Against a mostly minimalist stage setting with inventive lighting and electronic visuals, the choreography in Message in a Bottle was spectacular as it blended modern dance and hip-hop. The physicality of the dancer’s movements from their acrobatic tumbling to breakdancing defies gravity during the uptempo numbers. And yet there was also a sense of elegance and grace during the quieter and reflective moments, particularly one scene featuring a man and a woman as the romantic ballad “Fields of Gold” was played.
Of course, all of this couldn’t have been possible without the music of Sting and the Police whose 23 songs make up the score for Message in a Bottle (Rather than employing a live band in an orchestra pit, the show featured prerecorded music with mostly Sting’s vocals). According to its press notes, the production was first inspired by Sting’s hit “Desert Rose” (off of the singer’s 1999 Brand New Day album), and fittingly that track kicked off the first act.
After that, it was one recognizable Sting/Police song after another, including “If I Ever Lose My Faith in You”; “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic”; “Be Still My Beating Heart”; “Walking on the Moon”; “Invisible Sun; “King of Pain”; “Roxanne;” “Fragile”; “Englishman in New York”; and of course the hard-driving “Message in Bottle.” While some of those were performed either in full or abbreviated versions that didn’t department from the melodies and tempos of the originals, other songs were given different arrangements (under the supervision of Alex Lacamoire and Martin Terefe) unique for this show, such as “Shadows in the Rain” and “So Lonely.”
In their original recorded versions, Sting’s songs seem so different from one another musically and thematically. But the way they were deftly sequenced in Message in a Bottle contributed to a coherent narrative, conveying both moment of darkness (“Don’t Stand So Close to Me,” “Invisible Sun”) and light (“They Dance Alone”) for the protagonists of the story.
Interestingly, the classic “Every Breath You Take”, considered Sting’s signature song, was performed in the first act of the show rather than being used in the climax of the second act. Lyrically, the song is about romance and jealousy, but in Message in a Bottle, “Every Breath” was effectively used to convey the theme of surveillance in one scene in which the detention center authorities kept the detainees apart and under their control. Simultaneously, it could also be interpreted as the detainees promising to keep an eye on each other despite the separation.
By no means does Message in a Bottle present a sanitized, one-size-fits-all view of war and the plight of migrants–the complexities and nuances of those political and social issues are too great to tackle at length or solve in two hours. Still, the powerful combination of Prince’s choreography and those legendary Sting/Police songs present a moving story about the disenfranchised that also entertains and dazzles.
‘Message in a Bottle’ is currently playing at New York City Center through May 12. For information, visit www.nycitycenter.org.
