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A CurtainUp Review
Ordinary Days
By Miriam Colin
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Everyone's got a big picture that guides them through life toward what they want to be.—Warren
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Lisa Brescia and Hunter Foster
(photo by Joan Marcus) |
Following the stories of four young adults living un-extraordinary lives in New York, in a musical that pretty much fits the sung-through genre and with a single piano orchestra (expertly played by Vadim Feichtner) isn't exactly something to send crowds rushing to the box office. But that's not a problem here since it doesn't take crowds to fill the Roundabout's 62-seat Black Box Theater created to introduce and cultivate playwrights, and now, composer-lyricists. The intimacy of this space affords every audience members a prime seat and that rate pleasure: hearing songs without amplification.
Unsurprisingly, the New Yorkers Gwon has concocted to tell his story all have problems. For starters we have Warren (Jared Gertner), who's a gay, lonely and something of a nonentity. When we meet him, he's carrying on the work of a jailed graffity artist (pray painting homilies all over the city) by handing out printed versions of those sayings to passersby, who pay no more attention to his handouts than they would to any announcements of bargains and events. This unsuccessful endeavor highlights his sense of loneliness and alienation. Warren's story gets more interesting through a lost notebook that connects him with Deb (Kate Wetherhead), an NYU graduate student. Wethead is delightfully confused about everything from the subject of her thesis or whether to stay in New York.
The other characters, Jason and Claire (musical theater veterans Hunter Foster and Lisa Brescia), are a couple whose relationship is not doing well despite (or because?) their having just moved in together. They get two of the show's best songs, "Let Things Go", and "I'll Be Here."
As for the music generally, the lyrics are quite witty and don't strain to land their rhymes. The melodies are less memorable but that may be because they just keep coming on which tends to weaken the overall impact. As with any musical, the tunes might resonate more with repeated listening.
The somewhat bland and archetypical underpinnings notwithstanding, the excellent cast and attractive staging makes this a pleasantly enjoyable 80 minutes. Director Marc Bruno does manage to bring out what's best about this little show, its flavor of the anonymity of a huge city like New York which nevertheless allows strangers to connect and affect each other — shades of the ever popular anecdotes in The New York Times "Metropolitan Diary" column.
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Ordinary Days Music & Lyrics by Adam Gwon Directed by Marc Bruni Cast: Lisa Brescia (Claire), Jared Gertner (Warren), Hunter Foster (Jason), Kate Wetherhead (Deb) From 10/02/09; opening 10/25/09; closing 12/13/09 Tuesday through Sunday evenings at 7 PM with Saturday and Sunday matinees at 1:30 PM. Music Director/pianist: Vadim Feichtner Sets: Lee Savage Costumes: Lisa Zinni Lights: Jeff Croiter Sound: Danny Erdberg Orchestrations:. Andy Einhorn Running Time: 8o minutes, no intermission Roundabout Theatre Company Black Box Theatre at the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center 111 West 46th Street Tickets $20. Reviewed by Miriam Colin October 24th |
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