FLINT, MI–The right idea for a new musical is about half the battle for it to be a commercial success. The other half, of course, is getting the writing and music right. In the case of The Flint Repertory Theatre’s world premiere of The Magnificent Seven, the production team has gotten this work about the 1996 Olympic Gymnastics team very right.

The 1980s and 90s were arguably the glory days of the Olympics when TV ratings were through the roof, television was a placer where mass audiences gathered for big events, and Olympic nationalism was felt by young and old.

The 1996 Olympics in Atlanta were marred by a pipe bomb detonated at Centennial Olympic Park killing two and injuring 11. But in the athletic facilities the big stoy was “The Magnificent Seven,” the team of women gymnasts who bested the Russians for the U.S. first Gold Medal for Women’s Artistic Gymnastics Team All-Around. The United States won the most gold medals (44), as well as the most medals overall (101) for the first time since 1984, and for the first time since 1968 in a non-boycotted Summer Olympics.

Most of what we knew then about the seven athletes was their hard work, years of training, chalky hands and podium stances as they bowed their heads for medals to be draped around their necks. The musical book and songs tells the story about these women, the sacrifices they made, the pain in their personal lives, their silent resentment of how Olympic announcers objectify them, and the shattering toll on their bodies from years of practice, vaults, stress fractures, performing with pain and mental health challenges. It wasn’t all Wheaties boxes and lucrative fame.

The show was developed in FRT’s New Works Festival, but delayed because of the pandemic. Book and lyrics by Gordon Leary, Music by Julia Meinwald, and Directed by Catie Davis. Michael Lluberes is the Producing Artistic Director who guided the development of the play.

The actors work in a true ensemble in a parallel to the gymnastic team itself, with each taking turns stepping up in song and story just as each athlete excels in different events–Shannon Miller (Mary Paige Rieffel), Kerry Strug (Phoebe Strole), Dominique Moceanu (Alex Finke), Dominique Dawes (Bryana Hall), Amy Chow (Amanda Kuo). Amanda Borden (Monica Spencer) Jaycie Phelps (Hana Slevin). The announcing team: John Tesh (Bret Beaudry), Elfi Schlegel (Beth Guest), Tim Daggett (Scott Anthony Joy). Emi Fishman plays a vision of Mary Lou Retton from the 1984 Olympics.

Some song-stories are stronger than others, but the body of numbers is strong, and will get stronger as the play is workshopped. The ensemble combines for “Like Mary Lou,” a song about how Retton’s shadow still loomed large even a dozen years after her Perfect-10 and Gold medal. Jaycie’s “The Girl Who Fell” is extremely effective as it points to the emotionally crippling pressure these athletes are under and how their names can be forgotten, but not their mistakes. “My Body Is” sung by the ensemble about their crushing pain from injuries that they often played through.

The performances of the actors is very strong even if some of them are older by a decade or more from the characters they are playing. The important bit here is that they are all believable from the heart, their vocals and what they deliver.

The strength of the play is the behind-the-mats stories of each young woman, and at the end of the play there is a recitation by each actor about what became of their characters after the Olympics. There is a very fast mention of Dr. Larry Nassar who was the doctor for the 1996 Gymnastic team, as well as many others, and is now serving 60 years for serial sexual abuse of under-age women. The play does not go into that issue, which is probably a smart move because it would have demanded a significant slice of the story, thus taking away the time we spend getting to know these seven characters.

Early-ish in the play, the story takes a bit of time to build into a story that truly grabs you by the shoulders. There is a scene that is very funny and effective when the athletes go after the announcers, mainly Tesh, in the broadcast box that is seat amidst the audience.

The popularity of the subject material remains to be seen, but stands a strong chance of catching on in regional theatre if not the major stages of New York. The popularity of the Olympics in the U.S.  has declined since The Magnificent Seven; the 2022 Winter Olympics, for example, averaged just 11.4 million viewers across NBC’s networks in prime time, a 42% decrease from the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. It was the second consecutive set of Games to hit a record low, and about one-third the TV audience of the 1996 games.

Musicals about actual events are few and far between, but they seem to capture audiences; think about Come From Away, the story about the plane loads of people diverted to Newfoundland on September 11, 2001. The Magnificent Seven is compelling, draws you in and a very worthy musical storytelling on behalf of extremely hard working athletes who made enormous sacrifices and suffered to represent their country, themselves and their families.

The keen development of the show puts The Flint Rep, already one of the strongest regional theaters in the country, in a new league in Michigan, along with The Purple Rose Theatre and The Detroit Public Theatre, for developing new work.

See The Magnificent Seven at The Flint Repertory Theatre through April 16 before the tickets are much higher on Broadway.

Credits:

Choreographer–Duane Lee Holland Jr.

Music Director–Jeremy Robin Lyons

Scenic Designer–Ann Beyersdorfer

Costume Designer–Adam M. Dill

Lighting Design–Jake DeGroot

Sound Design–Matt Otto

Props–Miranda Sue Hartman