Tone deaf musically and thematically
I was incredibly excited to see Tones; hip hop in musicals and theatre more broadly has become more and more prominent since ‘In the Heights’ and ‘Hamilton’ and in hindsight it seems incredibly obviously perfectly suited towards storytelling in music. Tones is almost entirely comprised of rapping almost non stop and thus heavily leans on the quality of the lyrics for the entire show. The problem is that the song writing is incredibly mediocre.
Following Jerome (Gerel Falconer), a very well spoken and intelligent son of a black British family, we see a story that intersects blackness, racism, class, identity and music all intertwining as he grows from a child into a man. This concoction is an enticing mixture, however the show deals with all rather clumsily, dealing in clichés and stereotypes more than succinct or poignant truths. I’m not sure if this is as a result of writing for an overwhelmingly white middle class fringe – but regardless it doesn’t get too dive too deeply into any singular theme. I was really hoping it’s focus on blackness and how it is constructed in hand with class and masculine identifiers could explore the nuances of how such identities are formed and maintained, but it neglects the chance to do so.
The music is similarly fumbled. At it’s best it’s intense, unpredictable in both flow and lyrics yet very smooth, but this is the minority (two or three songs). The first few songs were very lyrically dense but not because they had clever metaphors, imagery or wordplay, but because they dump exposition in a rap that overstays its welcome and bores. The grime songs are more fun but still for the most part very flat, not modulating in tone, flow, rhythm and lyrics. If you’re going to do a play entirely comprised of songs they have to be much better in almost every way.
The stage is arranged like an amphitheatre which helps the dynamism in the performance as well as feeling far more intimate with Jerome’s story. Gerel does thrive in this animated and dynamic performance while beset on all sides by the audience, but this cannot makeup for the weaknesses in the opera.
I really want to like this opera more. Underneath a mediocre soundtrack and clumsy writing there is an interesting story with unique perspectives on black identity’s intersections with class to be shared – but another theatre will bring that to fruition.