Rating: ★★★★
Release Date: October 25th 2024 (early link provided to review)
Cast: Cardamon Rozzi, JC Chasez and Lily Elise
Playing With Fire, the new musical from JC Chasez (Grammy-nominated member of *NSYNC) and Jimmy Harry (Golden Globe winner for Madonna‘s “Masterpiece”), draws inspiration from Mary Shelley’s timeless Frankenstein. Featuring 16 original tracks, the musical reimagines the classic tale through a conversation between Frankenstein and his creation, The Creature, at the grave of Frankenstein’s wife, Elizabeth ten years after her murder. Featuring performances by Chasez, Cardamon Rozzi, and Lily Elise, Playing With Fire is a profound exploration of love, redemption, and the human condition.
Playing With Fire is a musical theatre concept album from JC Chasez and Jimmy Harry. As well as creating the music and lyrics, Chasez and Harry also feature on the album with both vocals and instrumentation which is testament to the amount of talent the pair possess. The album features 16 original tracks and also features vocals from Cardamon Rozzi and Lily Elise.
Playing With Fire is a reimagining of the much-loved classic Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, so it's the perfect time of year to get lost in this album. While on the surface you may think it focuses on life, creation and technology, it instead focuses on far deeper issues such as grief, loneliness, love and finding one's self. It's surprisingly touching and and many of the numbers left me feeling emotional. As a huge lover of the novel, the ability to delve into the complex relationship between Frankenstein and the Creature was a much-welcomed exploration.
If you're unfamiliar with the original story, it's worth reading the synopsis before you listen to the album. Mainly so that you can obtain the most from the experience. If you had little to no previous knowledge of the story, the narrative may be slightly confusing at times. While Frankenstein and the Creature are the protagonists' of our story, Frankenstein's deceased wife, Elizabeth, also plays a part in the story and the journey that has led to the events of their present day; ten years after her death. However, the dialogue is very much the gradual understanding between our two leads and how they achieved that despite their struggles with one another.
The album spans many genres, from electro pop, to sweeping and romantic with a classical feel, to dark and atmospheric. Playing With Fire opens with the number "This is How the World Ends", which is a quietly dramatic introduction to the story that foreshadows what's to come. Swiftly followed by "How Do You Sleep", which is a song that sounds so contemporary that it wouldn't surprise me to see it in the music charts of today. It also features a stunning lyric from the Creature, "every breath of life you gave me is your sin". The entirety of the song is the duet between Frankenstein and the Creature that you never knew you needed.
The album is filled with many earworms that you'll find yourself humming as soon as you've finished listening. And while most of the lyrics are incredibly strong, there were a few lyrics in the song, One Over R Squared Part 1, which felt quite lazy and simply only there to provide a rhyme (such as: "what makes the grass grow and all the mosquitos"). However, on the reverse there's lyrics in numbers like "Broken" which are hauntingly beautiful, such as "tell me why do men always get to choose what happens to my body".
The album peaks with its duets between Frankenstein and the Creature and I found myself yearning for more with every song as the songs truly are that gorgeous. "Build Me Someone to Love" really captures the loneliness of Adam (the Creature) and with lyrics such as "the happiness I've never known is right there in your hands" it's hard not be heavily invested in his heart-breaking plea to his creator. "Playing With Fire" and "The Death of the Brides" very much feel like the climax of the album in terms of intensity and drama, and the music and instrumentation reflects that greatly.
JC Chasez shines as the Creature/Adam and the emotion he's able to convey in his vocals alone is astounding. Lily Elise and Cardamon Rozzi are also both vocally brilliant and listening to the vocals alone on this album, I can only imagine how visually stunning this show could be on stage.
Much like Frankenstein himself, Jimmy Harry and JC Chasez have created something truly special here. Each song is dripping with intensity and emotion; from electro pop, to sweeping ballads, to atmospheric earworms - there's something for everyone. A hauntingly beautiful album that provides a deeper look into a complex relationship we already feel familiar with.
You can listen to Playing With Fire, here.
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