How strange and, in the end, how ironic that a German singing group, founded in the chaotic last years of the Weimar Republic and forcibly disbanded less than 10 years later, should call itself the Comedian Harmonists.
Yet on the evidence of the Barry Manilow musical “Harmony” — for which, yes, he wrote the songs (along with his longtime lyricist, Bruce Sussman) — the internationally famous all-male group had the “harmonist” part of their name just right.
Neither the guys nor the grim and eventually bludgeoning show have a gift for levity.
Though its title makes it sound as if “Harmony” would be calm and golden, its story isn’t an uplifting one.
Soon the brotherhood, symbolized in sound by their questing choral closeness, goes sour — a story that, to be effective, needs vivid contrast so we know what’s been lost.
Persons:
Harmonists, Barry Manilow, Bruce Sussman, —, Manilow, what’s
Organizations:
Socialism
Locations:
Weimar Republic