'Twelve Angry Men' soars as a musical

SARASOTA — Peter Rothstein, the producing artistic director for Asolo Rep and director of Asolo Rep’s latest production, “Twelve Angry Men, a New Musical” is not afraid to go where most would fear to tread.

Imagine making a musical of a story that takes place entirely in a jury room, with 12 men of differing backgrounds and differing opinions about the trial they have just watched.

The jurors include a house painter, a watchmaker, a machinist, a retiree, someone from Harlem, several not from Harlem, a bank clerk, a possible business executive and an immigrant who may have escaped Nazi Germany.

This is definitely a cross section of the sort of people who live in the city — New York City.

The set by Benjamin Olsen is as plain as any jury room is likely to be. One lone fan handles what an AC would handle if it were in that building or at least operable. This story was written before AC was universal, and there is a timeless quality to the setting as there is to the story.

There also is a water cooler, paper cups and a rectangular table that will seat the 12 jurors chairs, and as the show begins, those 12 chairs barely fit from one side of the Mertz Theatre stage to the other.

One of the end chairs is at a 45-degree angle to leave room for the jurors to get to their seats as the story begins.

Way up high at the back of the stage, there seem to be several New York City skyscrapers represented by lights.

Nothing else is needed by these 12 angry men in this plain room in a Manhattan courthouse.

Facing the audience, they take their seats, and with music, solemnly swear to do their duty, “so help me God.” This “musical” has begun.

The 12 men move their chairs into place at the big table where their disparate and in some cases, desperate, personalities will reveal themselves one by one.

As it is a musical, the words will often be in song. The men sit on a large, operating turntable, and as that turntable turns, so will the story take its own twists and turns.

That turntable gives the audience better views of these 12 different men and their discordant personalities. They must decide the fate of a 16-year old who was charged with first degree murder.

We learn that one of the key witnesses was a woman who saw the murder take place from her apartment window. She supposedly had a clear view through two windows of a passing elevated train.

The train was not standing still and indentations on her nose indicate that this witness must have worn glasses quite often. Something to think about.

The man who cast that one dissenting vote has a glorious voice and his character’s demeanor is such that a few votes might be changed as deliberations continue. But just as there was that one man who was ready to convict on the first vote, there are others who may or may not be equally steadfast.

That mulish person also seems to be an equal opportunity hater. He seems to dislike immigrants, especially those whose accent or appearance sets them apart.

Can music soothe some of these souls? That is not the job of this music. Yet, this music works its own magic — not to change the story but to somehow help emphasize the characteristics of each of the jurors and even to help clarify the story.

This story does not lend itself to dancing as in “West Side Story” or “Grease,” two musicals concerning gang fights and such. But the songs and their delivery in “Twelve Angry Men” add so much to this story.

There are no dance numbers, yet there is choreography, aided by that turntable and including the movements of various cast members around that room and that table for 12.

That there are no females in this cast goes back to the story’s creation and intent to show the many different types of male personalities, especially in some cases male dysfunction.

There is racial prejudice, ethnic prejudice and class distinction. Sadly, so many of these personality traits have gone unchanged in the nearly 70 years since the story’s creation.

This season at the Asolo opened with the musical “Crazy for You,” with all its colorful costumes, glitter and lots of dancing. The closing show is a different kind of “musical” but one that should be on the must-see list of those who appreciate quality theater in which a good story has been made better in some way.

“Twelve Angry Men” continues through June 9 in the Mertz Theatre in the Florida State University Center for the Performing Arts at 5555 North Tamiami Trail in Sarasota.

For tickets, call the box office at 941-351-8000 or visit: asolorep.org

Subscriptions are being offered for the 2024-2025 season, which opens Nov. 13 with “Beautiful, the Carole King Musicale.”