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“No one is immune from tragedy.” Perhaps there is no other moment in recent history where this sentiment would ring as true. As it happens, the ubiquity of human tragedy is a central conceit of Young Jean Lee’s genre-defying performance, We’re Gonna Die, which opened off-Broadway in February 2020 and closed just days before New York (and much of the country) would go into lockdown. Who could have contemplated tragedy on such a scale? Little did we know that, in just a few weeks, theatre venues would close their doors to live performance for more than a year. In that year, the COVID-19 pandemic death toll reached over 500,000 in the United States and millions globally, making Lee’s work more prescient than ever.
True to form, this anti-tragedy of sorts thwarts the promise of catastrophe and its resultant catharsis, following Lee’s characteristically unpredictable style of writing. In place of traditional dramatic narrative, We’re Gonna Die embraces an episodic structure that combines music, dance, and storytelling in what could be described as a theatricalized concert experience—a genre not unfamiliar to New York audiences, especially those who saw David Byrne’s American Utopia, which ran concurrently on Broadway (and is reviewed in December 2020’s Theatre Journal). Performed in under sixty minutes, the production packed an emotionally heavy punch as six loosely connected monologues given by a narrator dubbed the “Singer” (Janelle McDermoth) recounted tragic stories of chronic and acute illness, declining health with age, deteriorating relationships, and unbearable loneliness. These stories were punctuated by powerful rock-infused tunes that offered life-affirming, even humorous moments of collective release. In short, the production staged a public gathering around tragic events,...