EDGE ShortCuts: 'Message In A Bottle' Resonates with Timely Message & Spectacular Dancing

A scene from "Message In A Bottle"

There's enough tumultuous drama in "Message In A Bottle," the resonant British dance musical at Boston's Emerson Colonial Theatre through March 30, for a HBO mini-series. It begins in celebration – a young couple marry in a joyous family event in an unknown country. The happiness is short-lived when they get caught up in political uproar that leaves the family's dad dead, the newlyweds separated (with its bride taken into sex-trafficking), and the three siblings and their mother forced to emigrate in a rickety boat, where the mother drowns. Arriving at their destination, the siblings are sent to an interment camp where they are watched and abused by black-hooded guards. And that's just the first act.

It is a rich story (developed by playwright Lolita Chakrabarti Obe from director Kate Prince's concept) that grows in the telling, in part because of it views the migrants' experience from their point-of-view. And, also due to the fluid melding of hip-hop dance styles and modern dance performed by this thrilling ensemble in Prince's exacting staging. Her choreography runs from the loose, seeming improvisational turns by her soloists to tightly realized moves and gestures by the ensemble that punctuate the rhythms of the accompaniment.

That music is a suite of 28-songs by Sting (with and without The Police) beautifully arranged by Hamilton's Alex Lacamoire. But unlike the similarly themed jukebox dance musical "Getting Out" that used the songs of Billy Joel, there is no stand-in for the artist. Instead ,Sting re-recorded the score with a few assists from from Beverley Knight and Lynval Golding (of The Specials) and these new versions are heard over the loudspeakers.

Much of the power of "Message In A Bottle" comes with Prince's evocative stage pictures. In one, black-hooded soldiers brutalize female villagers to The Police's "Don't Stand So Close to Me." (You may never think of the song the same way again.) In another a storm at sea is vividly rendered; and in a third, the siblings are tortured under the ever-present gaze of their captors to the song "Every Breath You Take" (in which the lyrics take on a far more sinister meaning.) The production elements (Ben Stones' set design, Andzej Goulding's video designs, and Natasha Chivers' lighting) combine to enhance to the show's seamless storytelling. As for the company of 25 dancers, they never waver in their commitment to Prince's vision, which they perform with tireless enthusiasm and care -- even the fiercest movements look like a walk in the park. Fortunately "Message In A Bottle" ends (as it begins) with a joyous celebration – there is even sweet expressions of same sex love as the three siblings find their footing in their new homes that makes its message of inclusion all the more moving.

"Message In A Bottle" continues at Boston's Emerson Colonial Theatre through March 30. For further information about the Emerson Colonial Theatre engagement, click here.

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