HOLLER IF YA HEAR ME, the world inside Tupac Shakur's music and lyrics, blazes to life in a non-biographical story about friendship, family, revenge, change and hope. Inner city lives struggle for peace against the daily challenges they face in this entertaining and original musical. Through the poetry of one of the 20th century's most influential and culturally prominent voices, we are given a window into realities of the streets still relevant today.
HOLLER IF YA HEAR ME, written by Todd Kreidler, directed by Kenny Leon, will begin performances on June 2nd, 2014 (1564 Broadway at 47th Street).
The high-energy, deeply felt but ultimately overwrought production opened Thursday in a blaze of N-words at the Palace Theatre, proving both that rap deserves its moment to shine on a Broadway stage and that some 20 Shakur songs can somehow survive the transformation -- barely...Unlike other jukebox musicals, the songs in 'Holler If Ya Hear Me' are rarely ever delivered in the style of the original artist. Instead, the show's creators test their elasticity by turning them into duets or group songs -- and one even gets a folky acoustic guitar treatment. The danger is that the urgent, free verse style of Shakur's very personal songs gets diffused, lightened and flattened...Either way, rap is firmly on Broadway, and that's something to celebrate.
While there have been rap-rich musicals (In the Heights), the fusion of hip-hop and razzle-dazzle has been tricky at best, tacky at worst. The latest attempt is Holler if Ya Hear Me, a ghetto-not-so-fabulous repurposing of songs by Tupac Shakur (1971-96) for a ramshackle morality tale about revenge and second chances. Although songwriting purists will shrink and wince at Shakur's freewheeling meter and propensity to rhyme slant, the real crime against craft is Todd Kreidler's weak book...Director Kenny Leon has a surer hand with straight plays (such as his solid revival of A Raisin in the Sun), and the enterprise deserves respect for bringing Shakur's verbal pyrotechnics and political rage before a new audience. But Holler is a shapeless mix of melodrama, music video and half-grasped musical clichés.
2014 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
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