Between the Lines Is the Best Off-Broadway Musical You've Never Seen!

If there was ever a musical that felt like it was written just for me, it's Between the Lines. Never heard of it? That's not surprising. The show had a limited premiere for a few weeks in 2017 and a quiet off-Broadway run for a few months in 2022 before disappearing from the face of the earth. Its fall to obscurity was a crying shame until a pro-shot was released this year on BroadwayHD, the official streaming service for live theater. Based on a novel by Jodi Picoult and her then-teenage daughter, Samantha van Leer, the musical tells the story of a high school book nerd named Delilah who falls in love with a prince from a fairy tale that comes to life. This story is incredibly meaningful to me as both a writer and a reader. Not only have I had many intense crushes on fictional characters, but the plot is nearly identical to the first script I ever wrote for my first screenwriting class in college.


Between the Linse is a love letter for princess fans around the world that is chock full of fairy tale Easter eggs. The protagonist, Delilah, is played by Arielle Jacobs, who was one of the original actresses to star as Princess Jasmine on Broadway in the Aladdin musical. Prince Oliver's first appearance is similar to the moment when Thumbelina met Prince Cornelius by startling her when he popped out of the page of a book in Don Bluth's famous animated classic. There is also a scene where Delilah undergoes a magical dress transformation reminiscent of "Cinderella," and the classic fairy tale theme of true love is prevalent throughout the show despite being discouraged by modern media. Like many Broadway shows such as Wicked and Legally Blonde, the play improves upon the source material, incorporating the main ideas and characters from the book while changing small plot points every here and there to make the themes resonate more with audiences. The show is an absolute treat for princess fans of all ages.


The biggest tragedy of this show is that it will never be able to make its way to Broadway and mainstream media because it doesn't follow the current agenda of fierce princesses and man-hating. Prince Oliver is actually (gasp) a decent and respectable human being who happens to live inside a book. That awful Britney Spears musical from a few years ago thought it was being original by making its Prince Charming a dirty philanderer, but that trope had already been played out with Into the Woods back in the '80s. Between the Lines even pokes fun at the modern misandrist themes that have populated fairy tales from the last decade with its feminist mermaids who have a killer song about their disapproval of men and traditional female roles. However, this show does not encourage its audience to get lost in their fictional crushes and live a life of delusion either. The small but significant changes made to the book's ending teach us that it's better to go out there and write the story you want to live than to sit around dreaming about it. This is the message that the two "Cinderella" musicals that flopped on Broadway last year tried and failed to convey.


Although I wasn't able to watch the show live, the BroadwayHD pro-shot reveals a dazzling combination of practical and special effects to create the fairy tale world that Prince Oliver lives in. It has been a recent concern that many modern shows have been ruined by the overuse of digital projection effects instead of actual set pieces. Between the Lines takes full advantage of both modern and classic effects with working doors that look like giant book pages, shelves upon shelves of library books, and a screen behind the stage to show the audience the illustrations that Delilah talks to when she opens her book. The show looks like it would have been an absolute spectacle to see in person. Even the high school sets look fantastic. It was a clever touch to cast the same actress for the princess from the book as the "mean girl" at Delilah's school, showing us that mean girls see themselves as beautiful princesses when the "ordinary" girl who likes to read and daydream is the one who truly captures the prince's heart.


Between the Lines is a hidden gem of a musical that will captivate princess lovers of all ages. With its relatable protagonist, Delilah, and her fairytale come true romance with Prince Oliver, this show is a love letter to those who grew up loving fairytales. The production's clever use of practical and special effects, Easter eggs, and positive message make it a standout. Despite its limited run, the pro-shot release on BroadwayHD has given this enchanting musical a new life. Don't miss the chance to experience this delightful show, which proves that true love and self-empowerment can triumph over modern misconceptions. Get lost in the pages of Between the Lines and discover the magic that lies within.

Comments

Anonymous said…
First I want to say thank you for all your posts! I love your blog!!

Warning! This comment includes SPOILERS about Between the Lines.
I loved Between the Lines the book, and I wanted to like this musical, but I couldn't stand it because they changed the ending. I haven't actually seen the show, but I read the script online. I get that this is Delilah's story, but Oliver is the other main character and I don't think it's okay to leave him stuck inside the book when he's main objective throughout the whole thing has been to escape from inside it! It made me so upset. How did you feel about the ending?
Lisa Dawn said…
Hi Anonymous,

I have a lot of thoughts about this since I am currently completely obsessed with this show and am about 90% through Off the Page (which will probably be my next review). While I respect having other opinions and can understand where you are coming from, I though the ending of the show was absolutely perfect and would not change a thing.

SPOILERS BELOW:

Even though the books are classified as YA, they both read more like Juvenile fiction to me, and not because of the lack of spice. There was just a certain depth they were missing that most other clean YA books I read contain that respect the age and maturity of the readers. This duology was a fun and pleasant read, but it was pretty silly, even when the story got darker in the second book. The musical felt like it was made to appeal to slightly older audiences, which means that it needed to address the theme of growing up.

Like Delilah, I have fixated on fictional characters before, but I eventually found a real living breathing person who loved me that I could be happy with. It wasn't the same as my fantasies, but it gave me something to look forward to every day in the real world. Since the musical focused more on the drama with Delilah's mother and classmates than the novel did, it simply would not have worked to have her end up with Ollie because that would mean she could live in a fairy tale world forever and never have to grow up. The musical was different than the book in that it shows how difficult real life can be and completely justified Delilah's desire to escape into a fairy tale world. However, the ending demonstrated that it's possible to turn things around by doing something productive with your dreams such as becoming a write. I also loved that Delilah didn't have to give up her dream of romance in order to give up Ollie, which was a big problem I had with Once Upon a One More Time, another recent musical with a similar plot that failed to convey the same message.

Do I think the musical could have given Oliver a happy ending as well? Who's to say he didn't have one? Delilah said in one of the final scenes that her new book would be an opportunity to give all the characters from Between the Lines a happy ending. Just because we don't get to read A Whole New Story as an audience (which was a clever reference to "A Whole New World" since Delilah's actress also played Princess Jasmine) doesn't mean that Oliver didn't move on to that book and get a happy ending. Another interpretation could be that since Oliver was based on Edgar, Edgar's happy ending IS Oliver's happy ending in the real world (although the plot of Off the Page would make absolutely no sense if you take the musical into consideration).

I rarely cry when I watch things, and one of several lines that made me tear up in this show was when Ollie asked why letting Delilah go hurt so much, and Delilah responded "Oh Ollie, because it's real." That was such a powerful line that symbolized how painful it is to let go of the happy memories of our childhood and enter the scary world of being an adult. However, she still managed to get everything she wanted through hard work and perseverance, and Ollie realized that he also played in important part in people's lives by having his story stay the same so real people's stories could change.

So while I thought the ending of the novel was fine for its more juvenile theming, the musical had some much deeper themes that were meant to teach the audience a lesson about the hardships of real life and how it's still possible to make it worthwhile in the end.

(I think this comment was longer than my entire review, so I really appreciate it if you read the whole thing!)
Sugar said…
It was a good reflection. THAT'S the problem I have with a lot of shallow romance novels, I love romance stories that leave you with a feeling that you could have something like that in real life in fact a lot of good romance books don't contain perfect relationships! even a fairy tale novel can leave you with that positive feeling.I think it's just depressing when people say "oh we all know these stories are fantasy and no one can have that in the real world" not like "the real world has good things even though it's harder than a story" but like "the world reality is so stinky and the relationships so weak and superficial that all the good things about the stories are not here.
Lisa Dawn said…
I think that's the biggest difference between Once Upon a One More Time and Between the Lines. OUaOMT comes to the conclusion that real men are trash and fairy tale relationships don't exist, whereas BtL ends with the message that real romance isn't exactly the way you imagine it in your head, but it can still exist.

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