Truly Perfect Review – Broadway Star Confronts Past to Make Peace with Himself | stage

TThe title of this semi-autobiographical musical is also a major spoiler. Broadway star Levi Criss plays a version of himself, as he battles his demons and confronts his past, concluding that despite often feeling flawed, he is actually – oh, you guessed it.

This Levi stumbles off stage, inked and emotional, after being dumped by text message during a rehearsal. After 11 months of sobriety, he turns to crystal meth — but his kind-eyed sponsor Ben (Yifthah “Evie” Mizrahi) urges him to confront his inner child, ideally through song. Levi isn’t convinced – “My inner child looks like Chucky, but he’s human, and he’s gay and thinks he’s Elvis” – but he sits down at the keyboard and screams in pain.

Matthew (Levi’s first name) slips through a crack in the wall; This arrogant anecdote, played excellently by Killian Thomas Lefebvre, takes the hero through self-loathing adolescence (conversion therapy and rejection) to self-destructive adulthood (drugs and terrible men). Older and younger people glare, snip, and slowly make peace.

Chris’s unrestrained, often tearful dialogue leaves no room for nuance. Instead, he blows your mind about the ears, and shows exactly what Levi is distorting or denying. He unpacks and explains his feelings – there’s nothing the audience’s imagination can do.

His lyrics also tend to be poignant, but his music has a compulsive secret life. It wanders from the Pentecostal rumble at a revival meeting to the stripped-down Nashville sigh and a broken-hearted song that young Matthew diagnoses when Aretha meets Tori Amos. Catchy melodies deliver the oppressive rhythms of ancient religion, and the irresistible drama of rejection – see how these melodies can capture Levi’s heart even as they hurt him.

In Dave Solomon’s elegant production, the working dressing room is transformed into a theatrical playground (design by Jason Ardizzone West). Piano strings summon colored lights, a wardrobe spills costumes, while a snap of the fingers causes a spotlight and a prop to fall from the ceiling.

There’s no doubting the talent and dedication that truly goes into perfection, and Chris himself brings a big voice to this small stage. He rips the heart out of his songs and waves them as they beat above his head.