Things have changed a lot since Rodgers and Hart's Babes in Arms, when Mickey Rooney called out to Judy Garland, "Hey, kids, let's put on a show." The innocence and simple joy of that era have been replaced by the angst, irony and self-consciousness that infuse [title of show] which follows a group of four friends who decide to create a show for a contest which will be about creating a musical for a contest. They desperately hope that this exercise in self-reflection will take them from a sense of underachievement and their day jobs to an off-Broadway production of their efforts, and then, perhaps, on to Broadway itself. The decision to write a show about characters scripting their own lives is only the first step in this meta mania, however. The actors also constantly step out of character to comment on the show which the audience is watching. [title of show] is clever and filled with tons of theatre in-jokes which will delight showbiz fans. The game of recognising musical quotes and riffs on other examples of the genre is definitely satisfying, and there are also some very funny lines delivered along the way. What is rather missing here is that, while we may get that satisfying peek behind the scenes of creating theatre, unlike similar works such as A Chorus Line or the current hit, Why Am I So Single?, there isn't really much character development in this show. The composers, Hunter and Jeff, ably played by Jacob Fowler and Thomas Oxley and the actors, Heidi and Susan, nicely portrayed by Abbie Budden and Mary Moore seem simply sketched in. They don't really rise much above the generic frustrated theatrical hopefuls we are already familiar with. And, when we do have moments in which we start to care about these people, the fourth wall is broken and we are reminded that this is all a cunning construct. Why emotionally invest in characters played by actors who are constantly ironically commenting on their own artifice? This is a show that may take you inside the world of theatrical aspiration, but when it comes to real involvement with the people it keeps its guard up behind a wall of wisecracks and the meta artifice. Nevertheless, while [title of show] may fail to make much of an emotional connection, it is still an enjoyable, artfully written contrivance.
Rated: ★★★
Reviewed by J.C.
Photo by Danny Kaan
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