Anyone who enjoys exploring the sweet agonies involved in the creative process or diving into fascinating minutiae about musical theatre will find much to subjectively enjoy in Pride Arts’ latest, incredibly inventive production. Nicely, this local take on [title of show], which debuted on Broadway in the summer of 2008, is also fresh, funny and inventive, on the production end as well.
A little research, meanwhile, shows that the plot here actually mirrors the real life circumstances of the show’s creation. While working on a submission for the 2004 New York Musical Theatre Festival, lyricist/music writer Jeff Bowen and book writer Hunter Bell found that their own conversations were more interesting than what they were actually putting down on paper. Thus, they recruited two actress friends, Susan and Heidi, to help them develop a show about the vibrant triumphs and emotional catastrophes involved with…developing a show. The talented quartet ultimately took the project from the stages of the festival to Off-Broadway, eventually landing on the Great White Way itself.
Thus, much like the actors who have taken over the role for Heidi Schreck in various regional productions of What the Constitution Means to Me, the Chicago cast is playing show time versions of Hunter, Jeff, Heidi and Susan, all of whom played themselves in the original productions.
Beginning with such fun Bowen creations as “An Original Musical” and “I Am Playing Me,” the audience watches the musical (within a musical) evolve before their eyes. Bowen and Bell also play homage to the history of theater itself with “Monkeys and Playbills.” Perhaps the show’s most delightful number, this exultant tune honors decades of Broadway flops, humorously acknowledging all the hard work and passion that go into all projects, especially those that never meet their full potential. The bittersweet circumstances of “Die Vampire Die” and “What Kind of Girl is She,” meanwhile, pay bittersweet reverence to the insecurities and self-doubt that often plague artistic minds of every variety.
Brightly directed by Jay Españo, this production is vividly brought to life by Casey Coppess as Hunter and Jonah Cochin as Jeff. Cochin’s personal joy in the material is simply contagious while Coppess impresses with a brilliant arsenal of vaudeville style shtick. Both are creative, vivid, always-adventurous and extremely queer characters. Caitlin Pruess, who substituted for Lexi Alioto at last Sunday’s show, also beguiled with a wisecracking essence, although one fissured with an aching tendril of uncertainty. As Heidi, Shannon McEldowney steals focus with the show’s most beautiful ballad, “A Way Back to Then.” A veteran of a number of touring companies, McEldowney truly breathes a sense of exuberant realism into her character, an actress known for portraying minor roles in a coterie of Broadway shows.
A truly fun and unique take on a long established art form, this show also ultimately gives us a way forward into our own lives. The final important group number, “Nine People’s Favorite Thing,” celebrates the notion that being important to a significant few is a much more life affirming than being loved, mindlessly, by the masses.
[title of show] runs through Sept. 22 at Pride Arts, 4139 N. Broadway. Further information is available at www.pridearts.org.
THEATER [title of show] is an inventive, very queer take on the modern musical
