There’s a danger in producing a show that is very New York-centric, whose primary appeal is to a subset of the population that is young, hip and cares about theater — at least if you’re doing the show in Los Altos and your subscriber base is mostly north of age 50.
That was apparent after the opening of “[title of show]” the night of May 26 at Los Altos Stage Company. Friends and family of the perky/placid foursome who comprise the cast were oozing compliments and smiles. Yet some long-time Los Altos Stage Company subscribers were vocal in expressing their dissatisfaction by describing the show as so tedious they fought off sleep. One season subscriber said he would have left early, but the 95-minute musical runs without an intermission.
Too bad, because “[title of show]” does have its atypical quirks and vibrant personalities, uppermost of whom is the wickedly delightful Jocelyn Pickett as Heidi, she of the zillion facial expressions.
But the storyline, besides being hard to follow, is so “meh” that it’s tough to stay focused on where it’s going.
The gist of it is that a writer and a composer/lyricist can’t decide what to submit to a theater festival — with a deadline staring at them in three weeks — so they decide to write about their efforts trying to write a musical in three weeks. Interesting concept; not always so interesting in actuality.
Naturally the twosome are polar opposites: Hunter (Nick Rodrigues) is a perennially enthusiastic, bubbly, gay guy who goads Jeff (Derek DeMarco) into the project without considering their story might be monotonous (it is). Rodrigues does a decent job of wringing every ounce of life out of his role, though sometimes he’s just too smiley to be real. DeMarco plays Jeff as all business and realistic enough to know that what they’re creating may not sell.
In actuality, “[title of show]” did make it into the New York Musical Theatre Festival in 2004, ran off-Broadway in 2006 and played on Broadway for more than 100 performances. The musical’s book, by Hunter Bell, was even nominated for a Tony Award.
But that was in New York. Does it translate to a small theater in Los Altos?
Director Doug Brook makes a herculean effort to make it do so, and Esther Selk’s choreography is sharp, fast and bouncy. Top that off with Yusuke Soi’s stark-but-effective scenic design and terrific multi-colored lighting from Carol Fischer, and there’s the makings of a decent show.
And yet …
Sometimes frenetic movement does not a play make. Yes, chairs on wheels whiz in and out, ditto a desk, people run around in circles and bob up and down at will. But the thought lingers: “Do I care?”
At times it’s difficult to like Caroline Clark’s character, Susan. She’s perennially whining about her day job, her lack of money and her generally cynical outlook on life. At least that’s the way Clark plays her, so the vivacious Pickett is, by contrast, Little Miss Sunshine.
There’s a fifth character in this musical: Larry, who singly plays all the show’s songs on a piano at the rear of the stage. In this case “Larry” is Katie Coleman, who not only does a marvelous job with the 18 songs in the show, she has a few lines of dialogue to boot.
Some of the songs show promise or at least have lyrics that are entertaining. “Change It, Don’t Change It” has a nice cadence, “Awkward Photo Shoot” is funny, and “Nine People’s Favorite Thing” is probably the best song of the lot.
“[title of show]” is certainly not rocket science, nor even great theater. But it’s an undemanding way to spend an evening with some mostly likeable people talking and singing about the trials of writing a Broadway show.
Theater
What: “[title of show]”
Where: Los Altos Stage Company, 97 Hillview Ave., Los Altos
When: 8 p.m. Wednesdays-Saturdays; 3 p.m. Sundays
Through: June 24, 2017
Tickets: $18-36; 650-941-0551 or http://ift.tt/1MkaZvQ
via NAIJA Society
http://ift.tt/2huhMvk
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