'Animal Wisdom' Off-Broadway review — summoning spirits through song

Read our review of Animal Wisdom off Broadway, a musical ritual created and composed by Heather Christian and starring Tony Award nominee Kenita R. Miller.

Summary

• Animal Wisdom is a kind of musical seance in which a woman known as H communes with her dead loved ones through song
• Tony Award nominee Kenita R. Miller gives a committed performance as H (the stand-in for composer Heather Christian)
• The show runs over 2 hours with no intermission and can sometimes be difficult to follow
• The show is recommended for those interested in spirituality and the afterlife; fans of experimental musical theatre; and those who have experienced grief

Animal Wisdom, like all Heather Christian’s work, brings up some pretty big questions about life and death, ghosts, mourning, spirituality, and the universe, but also about form, genre, and the function of theatre. Christian provides a lengthy “composer’s note” that attempts to explain the show's slippery form. As she writes, it’s not a musical or even a play with music: “It’s a séance with songs, it’s a mass [...] It’s my life story, as clearly as I can tell it (which is not very clearly at all).”

Most precisely, I would call Animal Wisdom a song cycle with some monologuing between the musical pieces. There’s not a plot, but there’s a structure, with H (Christian's stand-in, played by Kenita R. Miller) conjuring ghosts of departed loved ones. Much like Christian's earlier Oratorio for Living Things, it’s philosophical, contemplative, and thought-provoking.

But unlike Oratorio, which profoundly explores the cosmos and the history of the universe, Animal Wisdom is an intensely personal piece — to a fault. Christian’s statement describes the work as “an active ritual, letting go of supernatural/psychological/spiritual/actual trauma in front of an audience. It’s a lecture demonstration of channeling through music.” That may not sound very inviting, but it is accurate to what Animal Wisdom is.

This is where the questions about the purpose of theatre come in: If we go with Aristotle’s argument, theatre is a public ritual meant to make the audience feel strong emotions as we relate to the characters on stage. Catharsis is the goal. Here, though, the only one having that experience seems to be Christian. Animal Wisdom does not feel like it’s for the audience, but more a therapeutic act for one person, and we are just meant to watch it happen.

Miller gives a committed performance, and she is an enjoyable, calming presence, an ideal guide for the often confusing and highly philosophical journey the piece takes us on. Early on, H explains how the various themes connect: To her, you can’t talk about ghosts without talking about God, which leads to music, which leads to physics, which leads to space, time, and the universe — it’s all interconnected in Christian’s mind. It sounds good in theory, and the piece is occasionally moving (the monologues in particular), but often we are kept at a distance, both by the material and the mode of delivery.

Toward the end, a large, superfluous chorus enters, and soon the stage is plunged into complete darkness for about 20 minutes of singing. In this portion, as in much of the piece, it’s difficult to hear the lyrics, with the band too loud and the singing not amplified or articulated clearly enough. Because the piece can be hard to follow and is very long (an unseemly 130 minutes with no intermission), Animal Wisdom is perhaps asking too much of its audience.

Animal Wisdom summary

Framed as a take on a Catholic requiem mass, Animal Wisdom is a “musical seance” in which a woman, H, summons and sings to, and with, the ghosts of her dead loved ones. There is not a plot or narrative, but a sequence of spiritual musical vignettes with some monologue interspersed and an extended musical sequence in darkness at the end.

Animal Wisdom is an autobiographical piece that composer Heather Christian has worked on for years. In earlier iterations, she played herself, but for this production, Kenita R. Miller plays H.

What to expect at Animal Wisdom

It’s hard to really prepare for what to expect at Animal Wisdom, a show which defies genre and in some ways defies description. The play is about grief, spirituality, and ghosts, all things which can hit close to home for some people. The play is 2 hours and 10 minutes with no intermission — a long time to sit in a theatre seat, so plan accordingly. About 20 of those minutes are performed in total darkness.

Visually, the Pershing Square Signature Center's flexible Linney Theatre is configured in a tunnel setup, with audiences on two sides facing each other. Set designer Emmie Finckel has filled every nook and cranny with an eclectic connection of knickknacks: teacups, bells, a Coca-Cola vending machine, vases, lamps, silverware, candles, a miniature house. String lights drape across the ceiling, chains mimick kudzu vines on the walls, and patches of flowers cover the ground.

What audiences are saying about Animal Wisdom

Audience members have shared somewhat mixed responses to the show on various online forums, often enjoying the powerful spiritual elements of the pieces but noting moments of confusion, its nontraditional structure, and longer runtime than stated.

• “See it: if you want a moving communal experience. Music, storytelling, ensemble play. Don’t see it if: you like a traditional structure.” - Show-Score user Kelly608327 (reviewing a previous production)
• “At times, it was hard to keep pace with the blazing tempo of the storyline and philosophical musings, but the tour de force musical performance more than make up for any shortcomings in the book. A beautiful, spiritual experience.” - Show-Score user Miss Scribbles (reviewing a previous production)
• “It is a ride (in a good way.) It needs an edit and plot is hard to follow but it also washes over you and transports you if you let it.” - Reddit user u/Terrible-Spinach9665
• “Animal Wisdom starts well and finishes with a painful half hour. Enjoyable outweighed by the excruciating.” - Reddit user u/ubirds17racoon

Who should see Animal Wisdom

• Those interested in spirituality will feel at home, as the piece is inspired by a Catholic requiem mass combined with various traditional religious mourning practices.
• Fans of experimental musical theatre — be it the work of composers like Dave Malloy or Christian’s other work, like Oratorio for Living Things– — will delight in the ways this work challenges the form.
• Believers in ghosts will enjoy Christian’s reverent exploration of how we can commune with the afterlife.
• Anyone who has experienced the loss of a loved one and has gone through, or is going through, a period of difficult mourning may find solace in this piece.

Learn more about Animal Wisdom off Broadway

Christian’s autobiographical piece seeks to stage a communal, spiritual, musical ritual, but Animal Wisdom ends up offering a hard-to-comprehend meditation on mourning that feels more for herself than for us.

Learn more and get Animal Wisdom tickets on New York Theatre Guide. Animal Wisdom is at the Pershing Square Signature Center through June 14.

Photo credit: Animal Wisdom off Broadway. (Photos by Ben Arons)