Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theater is currently hosting Floyd Collins, a musical that has been three decades in the making. The show, with music and lyrics by Adam Guettel and book and additional lyrics by Tina Landau, who also directs, premiered at the American Music Theater Festival in Philadelphia in 1994 and later debuted Off-Broadway at playwrights Horizons in 1996.The musical has garnered Drama League and Outer critics Circle awards nominations.

The story centers on the ill-fated Floyd Collins, a Kentucky spelunker who became trapped in a cave in the winter of 1925. His plight captured national attention, marking what some historians consider the first true media circus. Newspapers and radio broadcasts extensively covered the rescue efforts, drawing an estimated 30,000 tourists, neighbors, and volunteers to the site.

A Stellar Performance

Jeremy Jordan delivers a powerful performance in the titular role, portraying a range of emotions from excitement to despair. Jordan embodies Collins’s ambition to develop the Great Sand Cave into a tourist attraction, hoping to alleviate his family’s financial struggles. His initial confidence gives way to concern as rescue attempts fail,leading to fever dreams and the realization that he must relinquish life.

Jordan’s vocal performance is particularly noteworthy, featuring melodic yodeling in numbers such as How Glory Goes. Bruce Coughlin’s orchestrations and Ted Sperling’s music direction complement Guettel’s distinctive score.

Supporting Roles and emotional Bonds

The musical also explores the relationships between Collins and those who attempted to save him:

• Nellie (Lizzy McAlpine): Collins’s sister, portrayed by singer/songwriter Lizzy McAlpine in her Broadway debut.
• Homer (Jason Gotay): collins’s brother, who provides advice to the rescue team and later benefits from an acting contract to tell his story.
• Skeets Miller (Taylor Trensch): A cub reporter whose coverage ignited the media frenzy. Trensch portrays Miller with empathy, capturing his initial enthusiasm and later his tearful regrets. Miller’s small stature allowed him to deliver food,water,and companionship to Collins in the constricted space.

These characters appear with Floyd in the hallucinatory number The Dream.

The Spectacle Above Ground

Act II opens with a carnival atmosphere, highlighting the exploitation of the tragedy by the press, gawkers, and even members of Collins’s family. A Vaudevillian-style song-and-dance routine, Is That Remarkable, performed by exuberant reporters (Dwayne Cooper, Jeremy Davis, and Charlie Franklin), underscores this theme. Sean Allan Krill portrays H.T. Carmichael, a self-vital engineer who takes charge of the rescue operation with little practical experience, driven by career advancement and profit.

Challenges in Staging

One of the challenges of the show is the audience’s awareness of the tragic outcome. Despite jeremy Jordan’s compelling performance, it can be difficult to fully invest in the emotional journey, knowing that the story does not end positively. He’s doomed from the start and we certainly know it.

The Vivian Beaumont Theater’s large stage presents another challenge.The minimalist set design, while sleek, fails to convey the intense claustrophobia that Collins would have experienced. The abstract set requires the audience to use their imagination to envision the extreme confinement.

Technical Elements and Atmosphere

Dramatic lighting by Scott zielinski, contrasting the darkness of the cave with the brightness outside, helps to create the atmosphere. The sound design by Dan Moses Schreier, featuring the sounds of a thunderstorm and collapsing rocks, adds to the tension.Southern accents and authentic costumes by Anita Yavich further enhance the historical setting.

It’s left largely to the dramatic lighting (by Scott zielinski)… and the startling sound (by Dan Moses Schreier)… to capture the moods and the situations both above and below ground.

While the underground scenes may not fully transport the audience to the cave, the expressive performances, songs, and above-ground spectacle bring Floyd Collins to life, delivering a message that suffering should engender compassion not exploitation.

Performance Details

Floyd Collins runs through Sunday,June 22,2025,at Lincoln Center Theater,the Vivian Beaumont Theater,150 west 65^th Street,New York City. Tickets are priced from $58-299, including fees, and can be purchased online. Discount tickets are available at TodayTix here. the running time is approximately two hours and 35 minutes, including an intermission.