Review of <em>The Great Immensity</em>

Abstract

The Great Immensity had me at “climate change musical.” After reading that brief descriptor of the play, I envisioned campy yet incisive songanddance numbers about unprecedented heat waves, sealevel rise, melting polar ice caps. I imagined the kitschy, queer appeal of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, but with more scientists and activists and fewer charming lumberjacks turned sortof kidnappers. But with a few exceptions, such as a sardonic number about the pathetic state of international climate change policy (“oceans must be better protected / science must be respected . . . these agreements are not legal / these agreements are not binding”), The Great Immensity is not that kind of climate change musical. For better or worse. In my view, it’s both better and worse. Developed by the Brooklynbased Civilians theater group, The Great Immensity focuses on American cameraman Karl (Chris Sullivan), a multipleEmmy winner for his work on the Discovery Channel’s Shark Week. Estranged from his wife Phyllis (Rebecca Hart) while posted at a scientific research center in Panama, Karl’s despair over environmental degradation and the ineffectiveness of the mainstream media leads him to team up with the Earth Ambassadors, an international youth group led by a precocious American girl named Julie (Erin Wilhelmi). They set a goal of hatching a major media stunt that will get the world to watch, and to act. Their deadline for pulling it off is the eve of an international climate change summit in Paris. At a time at which emotions around climate change find little outlet in public media— instead, we are bombarded with facts and figures and