Even by the daunting standards they’ve set for themselves, the Civilians’ latest effort is a stretch. “In the Footprint: The Battle Over Atlantic Yards” is the musical-theater equivalent of years’ worth of news about the Brooklyn development.
In documentary-theater style, the show details the uproar caused by Bruce Ratner’s plan to develop 22 acres of downtown Brooklyn for high-rise housing and a sport arena.
It’s complicated, but the show, written and staged by Steven Cosson, makes it go down easy, helped along by Michael Friedman’s jaunty score.
Not only has he written songs about Brooklyn’s geography and ethnic makeup, but he’s come up with a fun ditty defining the ULURP (Uniform Land Use Review Procedure), the UDC (Urban Development Corp.) and the ESDC (Empire State Development Corp.):
“But now it allows the state/ And Ratner/ And Bloomberg/ To override ULURP)/And the City Council/And the local city planning laws/ And that’s how eminent domain works!” the number ironically concludes.
The talented six-person ensemble embodies such players as Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, Mayor Bloomberg, architect Frank Gehry and Jay-Z. There’s also a Greek chorus of bathrobe-clad bloggers.
Performed just several blocks away from the project site itself, “Footprint” is as entertaining as it is enlightening. Clearly impassioned, it never stoops to polemics.