Naveen Kumar The body can sometimes say more than words, but even the most expressive moves cannot make a coherent case for “Paradise Square.” The blunt and belabored history lesson of a new musical set in Manhattan’s Five Points, and produced by Garth Drabinsky, purports to be a fable of American race relations.
But while conflicts between the neighborhood’s Black and Irish residents at times come thrillingly to life through dance, “Paradise Square” is wrong-footed from the jump.Named for an all-are-welcome saloon in the downtown slum, the Broadway musical presents a clash of cultures inspired by true events.
Irish immigrants and Black Americans are jostling to survive in a city of harsh promises and a country on the brink of Civil War.
Two young men walk into a bar, one fresh off the boat from Ireland (A.J. Shively) and another (Sidney DuPont) who’s just escaped slavery on the Underground Railroad.
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