What does it take to produce a legendary album? Stereophonic offers a handy checklist. Start with infectious melodies, clever choruses, and a distinct overall sound. Mix in a metric ton of cocaine, whiskey, and beer. To the mix add love triangles, long-simmering resentments, healthy egos, and burned bridges. Quick as you can say “reverb,” you’ve got a hit on your hands.
Broadway sure does have a hit in the enthralling new play by David Adjmi, which opened recently at the John Golden Theatre after an Off-Broadway run at Playwrights Horizons last fall. You could say that the measure of a classic record is that as soon as it’s finished, you want to drop the needle and listen to it again, front to back. Despite its four-act structure and three-hour length, I would have happily remained in my seat and watched Daniel Aukin’s meticulously paced production play out again from start to finish.
Adjmi’s tale absorbs the viewer in the trials and tribulations of making great music in the very same way that great music captivates a listener. Set primarily in a Sausalito recording studio in the late 1970s—David Zinn’s scenic design gets every detail just right—the audience feels as if they are eavesdropping on the intensely private moments that precede creation at the highest level. These heady days are fraught with tension, which is compounded, of course, by substances; as the music gets more harmonic, the discord in the studio only grows deeper.
Fleetwood Mac and their album Rumours are the obvious referent for this story: the comedian John Mulaney famously described that landmark disc as “an album by and for people cheating on each other.” The composition of the fictional band even resembles the real-life group: a British trio (Chris Stack as drummer Simon, Will Brill as bassist Reg, and Juliana Canfield as keyboardist Holly) absorb a charismatic American pair of lovers (Sarah Pidgeon as vocalist Diana and Tom Pecinka as guitarist Peter), and their personal strife cracks the edges of a once-tight unit.
Watching how minutely Adjmi sets up the little tears that become irrevocable breaks is one of the play’s greatest pleasures, if you can call it that. I doubt I’ve encountered more specific character writing and world building all season. That precision breeds down to the acting company, which also includes Eli Gelb and Andrew R. Butler as a pair of comedic sound engineers. The performances are superb across the board, although Pidgeon and Pecinka catch lightning in a bottle as the chemistry between Diana and Peter grows more fractious. I’ll also never forget Canfield’s resigned expression when it becomes painfully clear to Holly that the band’s days are numbers.
In addition to its crackerjack script, Stereophonic features a score (by Will Butler, a former member of the band Arcade Fire) that puts virtually everything heard in a Broadway musical this season to shame. Engrave his Tony now.
The quick move from Playwrights to the Golden for this show gives hope that serious, engrossing plays for adults still have a place on Broadway. Buy a ticket, settle in, and really listen to Stereophonic. It’s brilliantly in tune.
reclining standards 
