| Moby-Dick | |
| Music: | Dave Malloy |
| Lyrics: | Dave Malloy |
| Productions: | 2014 "The Ballad of Pip" at Joe's Pub 2019 American Museum of Natural History 2019 Cambridge |
Moby-Dick is a stage musical in four parts with lyrics, music and book by Dave Malloy. An adaptation of the classic 1851 novel by Herman Melville, the musical made its world premiere in December 2019 at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts, directed by Rachel Chavkin.[1]
Part III: "The Ballad of Pip" was performed as a standalone jazz song-cycle at Joe's Pub on March 20, 2014.[2]
On July 26, 2019, and July 27, 2019, a 90-minute concert of excerpts from Moby-Dick was performed at the American Museum of Natural History, in the Milstein Hall of Ocean Life underneath the whale.[3]
The musical had its world premiere at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts on December 11, 2019, after one week of previews.[1]
i. Knights & Squires (I)
ii. Knights & Squires (II)
iii. Isolatoes
i. First Day
ii. Second Day
iii. Third Day
| Character | Original Cambridge Cast (2019)[4] | |
|---|---|---|
| Ishmael | Manik Choksi | |
| Captain Ahab | Tom Nelis | |
| Father Mapple/Captain of the Albatross/Captain Boomer of the Bachelor/Captain Gardiner of the Rachel | Dawn L. Troupe | |
| Queequeg | Andrew Cristi | |
| Fedallah | Eric Berryman | |
| Starbuck | Starr Busby | |
| Stubb | Kalyn West | |
| Flask | Anna Ishida | |
| Tashtego | Matt Kizer | |
| Daggoo | J.D. Mollison | |
| Pip | Morgan Siobhan Green | |
| Sailor 1/The Blacksmith | Ashkon Davaran | |
| Sailor 2/The Carpenter | Kim Blanck |
The Cambridge production was generally well reviewed, with praise for the music and the work of scenic designer Mimi Lien in particular, while common criticisms included the -hour length and "The Ballad of Pip" section. Don Aucoin of the Boston Globe wrote that it was "ambitiously conceived and superbly executed ... if occasionally self-indulgent,"[5] while Carolyn Clay of WBUR's ARTery called it "an extraordinary sum of diverse parts."[6] On the other hand, Christopher Caggiano of The Arts Fuse criticized the production for trying to adapt the entire book, and for "forcing" contemporary parallels.[7]