Just wait until the first dance-off.

直到那时，您可能很难与伯克利代表的联系“Paradise Square: A New Musical.”这不是因为缺乏鲜艳的材料。The show — whose world premiere opened Thursday, Jan. 10, under the direction of Moisés Kaufman — chronicles the little-known chapter of Civil War history in Manhattan’s Five Points neighborhood, where black and Irish residents, both regarded as outsiders by the rest of the country, forged an amicable coexistence, complete with interracial friendships, marriages and business partnerships.

Book writers Marcus Gardley, Craig Lucas and Larry Kirwan plait together an assortment of narrative threads. Irishman Willie (Brendan Wall) leaves New York to fight for his adopted country in the Civil War. Stephen Foster (Jacob Fishel) belatedly rues his songs’ sanguine portrayal of slavery. Willie’s black wife, Nelly (Christina Sajous), might lose the saloon the couple run with Willie’s sister, Annie (Madeline Trumble) and her black husband, Rev. Samuel (Daren A. Herbert).

But each of these story lines more declares itself than emerges organically, as if what’s unfolding before your eyes is already as distant and past-tense as a sepia photograph (an effect heightened by Donald Holder’s lighting design, which often combines cobalt and coral to suggest a bloodless world, one devoid of the fiery hues of real life). Stephen Foster tells you he’s worried about his reputation rather than earning your care about it in real time. Willie dies before you’ve even gotten a chance to know who he is or invest in him, and characters keep describing Nelly’s mourning of him even as she takes the news of his death so lightly you might forget which character is supposed to be his wife.

But thenBill T. Jones’编舞有机会接管讲故事的人，当时两个潜在的租户 - 威利的爱尔兰侄子欧文（A.J. Shively）和逃亡的奴隶威廉（西德尼·杜邦（Sidney Dupont）） - 争夺Nelly轿车上方的单人间。他们跳舞了，每幅画都绘制了他自己的运动传统的广泛词汇 - 爱尔兰步进舞，朱巴舞。

在这里，节目陷入了现在的时态。两种舞蹈形式都将单个节奏跳动到无限的空间中，充满了咔嗒声和踢踏舞鞋的可能性。爱尔兰步进舞者的膝盖在方向上挥舞着，膝盖不应该走，脚像舞台上的巨型羽毛笔一样轻轻地舔了舔。朱巴舞者制作每一个关节蛇形；杜邦（Dupont）的暂停如此电气，以至于选择静止的选择就像所有人中最具动态的舞蹈动作一样。他让您在释放它之前浸泡他的潜力能量。

There’s another, bigger dance-off to save the saloon; a labor strike sowing divisions between Irish and blacks; a deadly draft riot; a pregnancy; a debate over whether Stephen Foster has the right to tell slaves’ and blacks’ stories in song. But in this phase of the world premiere’s trajectory, characters and situations still feel like cogs in a wheel not sure of its destination.

斯蒂芬·福斯特（Stephen Foster）音乐的魔力（对于所有种族主义）来说，是其感染性的旋律，迷惑的简单性和悲哀的股权。杰森·霍兰德（Jason Howland）和拉里·柯万（Larry Kirwan）的“天堂广场”版本实现了诸如“哦，苏珊娜”（Susanna）少吸引人或安排“艰难时期再也没有再来”之类的歌曲，并以如此多的音乐烟火的方式无法识别。

不过，考夫曼的演员阵容提供了许多补偿性魅力。Trumble用母亲照顾一个生病的孩子的温柔来对待每个音符。萨乔斯带着战士的力量和承诺进行战斗。史蒂芬·福斯特（Stephen Foster）的妻子珍妮（Janey），肯尼迪·库尔（Kennedy Caughell）的扭曲，每个人都坚持不懈，好像她不能忍受它，不能忍受放手。

“Paradise Square” ends by telling us that the promise of the Five Points neighborhood — that different groups can come together, not just appreciating but learning from each other’s backgrounds, amalgamating something new while honoring traditions that came before — remains unfinished. That’s perhaps also true of the show itself, but that does not at all preclude continuing to work toward something greater.

L“Paradise Square: A New Musical”:Book by Marcus Gardley, Craig Lucas and Larry Kirwan. Music by Jason Howland and Larry Kirwan. Lyrics by Nathan Tysen. Based on the songs of Stephen Foster. Conceived by Larry Kirwan. Directed by Moisés Kaufman. Through Feb. 24. Two hours, 45 minutes. $40-$115, subject to change. Berkeley Repertory Theatre, 2015 Addison St., Berkeley. 510-647-2949.www.berkeleyrep.org

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Berkeley Rep’s ‘Paradise Square’ a place where Irish and African Americans converge