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A CurtainUp Review
Glee Club
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Get back into your place, get your face in your music, and shut those gaping asswounds you use as mouths.— Ben (the music director)
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Placed in the fictional town of Romeo, Vermont (has playwright Matthew Freeman been hanging out with playwright Annie Baker?), the play opens at the start of the town's all-male Glee Club rehearsal. Director Ben (Stephen Speights) is anxious; soloist Hank has yet to show up. In the meantime, we meet the other six members of the club — a rag-tag, woodsy bunch. There's Paul (Steven Burns), the possible/probable serial killer; Fred (Bruce Barton), the overzealous (undertalented) glee member; Hank (Tom Staggs), the soloist, who may be derailing his voice by changing his life; and a handful of other characters who all simultaneously seem too ridiculous to be real, yet feel oddly familiar.
The gist of Glee Club goes like this: This hokey community glee club is to perform one original song at the nursing home of their most important donor. The problem is, they can't get through more than a few bars before Ben (also the ditty's writer) stops them in disgust. At each pause, the group — with their wacky personalities — seem on the verge of chaos. Worst of all, Hank can't seem to get his supposedly angelic voice to cooperate, creating a series of hysterical desperate maneuvers on the part of the other group members and director.
Playwright Freeman excels at the ridiculous — the unsubstantiated anger, the freakish thoughts said aloud, the amazing desperation. And it's these factors which make Glee Club the fun ride that it is. The more "straight-ahead" dialogue, however, is at times clunky, feeling a little too much like filler in between the wacky. All eight actors are charming and specific. They have clearly dedicated themselves to making each character have a full story, and this brings out the best in each performer.
Glee Club is most certainly a crowd-pleasing comedy. Pair that with a crowd-pleasing song (spoiler-alert: you do, eventually, get to hear it through), and you've got yourself a fun evening.
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Glee Club Written by Matthew Freeman Directed by Kyle Ancowitz Cast: Bruce Barton (Fred), Stephen Speights (Ben), David DelGrosso (Nick), Carter Jackson (Greg),Steven Burns (Paul), Robert Buckwalter (Mark), Matthew Trumbull (Stan)and Tom Staggs (Hank) Sets: Robert Monaco Costumes: Jonna McElrath Sound: Kyle Ancowitz Lighting: Wheeler Kincaid Graphics: Bruce Goldstone Stage Manager: Susan Sunday Blue Coyote Theater Group at the Access Theater, 380 Broadway, 212 868 4444, www.smarttic.com From 3/3/10; opening 3/6/10 closing 4/3/10 Wednesday through Saturday @ 8pm. Reviewed by Amanda Cooper based on 3/3/10 performance |
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