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Before I go on, though, I want to stress that this is not intended to be a full review. Rather, I'll talk about the book, music and lyrics, as well as how it works in performance. I will only discuss technical elements that impact specific aspects of the show. I assume that the producers gathered the very best talent, and maximized both limited budgets and limited rehearsal time.
Grade: The potential
is there, but it is as messy as a teenager’s room, and cleaning it up just might be more
trouble than it is worth.
What Works: The Book:
(Scenario A) What does it mean when the most original angle of a show about
teenage sexual awakening deals with the lust (and eventual coupling) between a
step-brother and step-sister? Yes, that
is a part of this hodge-podge of teen angst and hormones run amuck. (Scenario
B) With all of the attention being paid to gay teens being bullied and
social media aiding in the outing of said teens, you’d think a current musical
that sort of deals with it would be more on top of it, playing out the story as
promised instead of a last-minute “everyone’s cool with it” cop-out. (Scenario
C) Two kids fresh from some sort of clinic experience have fallen in love,
in a sticky co-dependent, but still want to fuck kind of way are also a part of
this story, and are, like the other elements I’ve described, potentially
original and full of meaning. (The fourth couple is your typical horny boy with
no direction and tough girl with a soft inside dying to come out, so done to
death there is no way I can say it helps the show. Actually, it just takes time away from the
other three…) That these three story
lines are in the book by Michael Alvarez
shows me that Trouble could work, be relevant AND break new ground. But they are either treated like a running
joke (Scenario A), given short shrift at the end so as to make what is at stake
another joke (Scenario B), or thrown in like “we need a plot twist here” and
then treat the situation like a poor man’s After School Special. All 3 plots could and do work on some level,
since I ended up caring about what happened to the kids involved, but it took
more work on my part than the piece warranted.
What Works: The
Score: Since the score is written by an actual rock musician, with some
actual street cred (Ella Grace, part
of the UK band Hitchcock Blonde) I guess I expected more bang for my buck when
her show is subtitled “A New Rock Musical.”
It is pretty clear that she’s trying to reach for the Jonathan Larson
vibe mixed with Spring Awakening poetry. Instead, as Mike pointed out to me – and he
is right, most of the songs are so lyrically generic that any character in the show
could sing any of the songs at any time.
And they all sound woefully similar, with only 4 numbers that, one day
later, I can even recall, and don’t ask me to hum them. “I Stalk You a Little Bit,” sung by the gay
kid who’s in love with a popular athlete while sniffing the guy’s gym shorts
and, ultimately, his jock strap, is clever enough and gets laughs because, well, it is funny to watch, even if it is too realistic and kinda gross at the same
time. The end of act one, according to
the program is called “Spring Flowers,” but is noteworthy because, though I can’t
quote you a single lyric, I remember thinking that the words and the music fit
the moment. That moment was watching “high
school kids” slowly undress themselves and each other and begin to copulate. The catchiest number of all opens Act Two (“Can
I Sit This One Out?”) which deals with the aftermath of Act One’s, uh,
climax. And the one ballad that stuck
out even a little bit to me was as much because the actress singing it has one
hell of a belt was “Best Birthday Ever.”
It loses some points, however, for being sung at her mother’s
grave. "Maudlin" and "excessive" defined.
What Works: The Staging
and Cast: By far the best element of this production is the incorporation
of modern dance by the ensemble, who acts both as real life high school kids
and at one point the psychological version of the main cast. Had that been explored more, the entire piece
would have a point, a point of view and something unique to bring to the
table. Kudos to Jennifer Webber, choreographer, for the best staged moments of the
entire two plus hours. I hope producers
of So You Think You Can Dance see
your work and offer you a job.
The youthful cast does what it can with what they’ve been
given, and without much help from the director. (Though as “professional actors,”
many part of Actors Equity, shame on all of you for not knowing the lines or
the scenes well enough to work through them!)
Standout performers include the funny Abbe Tanenbaum, the sweet, funny and sincere Daniel Quadrino, the sexy-ish “jock” (and apparently an excellent
kisser) Matthew J. Riordan, and
belter Sara Kapner. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy the others –
Katie Mack, Davi Santos, Sara Kapner and
Justin Stein were fine.
The Trouble with Trouble: More than half of my issue
with this production has to do with what might be a misinterpretation of what
the New York Music Theater Festival defines as a “full production,” which Trouble allegedly has been given. I thought that meant that it was fully,
competently staged, rehearsed and ready for an audience. I understand that time and budget dictates
that production values will be simple.
But I have seen more competently produced staged readings. It was very clear from start to finish that
the very game cast rehearsed the hell out of the vocals and the dancing. But the book and the direction were given
much less consideration. I have seen
high school productions with more professionalism and finesse. It says a lot that during every scene of act
one (and a few in the much better second act) lines were clearly flubbed,
forgotten altogether or simply thrown out for some self-indulgent ad-libbing. I wish I were exaggerating, but you could
tell by the actors’ faces when they got lost by the look of panic, followed by
clear looks of relief when they finally managed to get to a cue line for a
song. Then there were the not funny little mumblings by the cast changing “scenery”
who felt compelled to let us know that the flimsy lawn chairs they brought on
and off and on and off were as cheesy as they looked, but what can you do? I won’t even discuss the on/off staging to
center that was as boring to watch as it has to have been to act out. Even Baby
It’s You was more varied, which is saying a lot. But I can forgive a lot given the
circumstances of such a fast-paced festival if the show is really new and being
given its first chance to fly. As a
first draft this is decent. But Trouble, apparently has been staged
everywhere, and by the same people!
However, the fact that the director, Matthew Alvarez, appears to have been absent during rehearsals for
its New York debut, the messiness of the book scenes is even worse considering
HE wrote it, too! If this is to have a
future, Mr. Alvarez needs to step down as its director, and find a collaborator
to flesh out the book, the characters and most of all the tone. As it is, it is all over the place – important
topics with scenes of high camp, melodrama and very few moments of believability. Just because the play is about adolescents,
doesn’t mean it has to act like one.
That is a disservice to the cast, the audience and mostly to teenagers
everywhere.
Trouble plays its final performance at The Pershing Square Signature Center on Wednesday, July 18 at 5 PM. www.nymf.org
Trouble plays its final performance at The Pershing Square Signature Center on Wednesday, July 18 at 5 PM. www.nymf.org
(Photos by Joshua Priestly)
Jeff
3.322
@jkstheatrescene (Twitter); jkstheatrescene@yahoo.com (email), or Comment Below (Blogger)
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