Evergreen

Though it's billed as "a new holiday musical," there is little Christmassy about "Evergreen." Set in a post-apocalyptic future—is anyone else getting tired of post-apocalyptic?—it's the surprisingly bleak tale of young teen Maya (Anita Vasan, pretty, spirited, and in absolutely splendid voice), who, having often heard her grandmother's reminiscences of snow and trees, sets out to see if trees really exist. She's followed by her hyperactive little brother, Joshi (Whitney Kam Lee, who's ingratiating but unfortunately bigger than Vasan). The siblings endure wind, desert, fire, and other natural impediments, all sung and played by a large children's chorus.

There's plenty of imagination at work here, and one admires Peter Mills (book, music, and lyrics) and Cara Reichel (book and direction) for attempting a holiday concoction with an environmental consciousness and more than a touch of gravitas. But Mills and Reichel keep tripping themselves up. First, there's Reichel's busy, unfocused staging of the natural disasters, consisting mostly of kids running around and waving their arms. For major plot turns, characters annoyingly break the fourth wall and narrate—and prosaic narration it is: "They reached the vast plateau. It was strangely flat." The tone can be off: As Joshi, lost with Maya in a petrified forest, is turned by supernatural forces into stone, he cracks one-liners ("You're scared? I'm petrified") and sings the strangely jokey "Feel Free."

Mills does write attractive melodies, and the title song and "Stories in the Stars," in which brother and sister read the skies to map their course, are appealing ballads. Finally, Maya, in a dark volcano that housed the planet's last evergreens, which she has accidentally burned down, engages in a metaphysical conversation with her grandmother, who leads her home and to a logic-defying happy ending.

The strong-voiced David Foley Jr. and Raphael Sacks help out a lot in supporting roles, and Erica Beck Hemminger's washed-out-cloth set effectively suggests desolation and decimation. But these feel like odd emotions to experience at such lengths in a holiday entertainment intended for all ages. Bring back Santa.


Presented by Prospect Theater Company at the Marjorie S. Deane Little Theater at the West Side YMCA, 5 W. 63rd St., NYC. Dec. 19–Jan. 3. Schedule varies. (212) 352-3101, (866) 811-4111, www.theatermania.com, or www.prospecttheater.org. Casting by Diana Glazer.