Barrington Stage Company’s Musical Theatre
Lab is a fertile ground for developing new artists and not-so-new artists who
are themselves exploring new ideas. It is a testament to the company’s belief
that without investment there is no dividend. And BSC also recognizes that no
one can predict the future life of any new work. BSC’s commitment is both
laudatory and enviable. Their track record is certainly to be admired. A
Little More Alive is this season’s project from the Musical Lab and, unlike
some previous productions, this is not a world premiere, but I think it’s
probably fair to assume that Nick
Blaemire (book, music and lyrics) has continued to refine his work.
Nate (Van Hughes) and Jeremy (Michael Tacconi) are brothers brought
together for their mother’s funeral. As they help their father sort out her
things, they come across a collection of love letters and this discovery sets
in motion an avalanche of long-held and long-repressed memories. The brothers
aim to protect Gene (Daniel Jenkins),
their father, by confronting the man they believe to have been their mother’s
lover, and they are joined by Lizzie (Emily
Walton), a hospice-care worker who had cared for their dying mother.
It’s at
this point that the story becomes more theatrical than credible, but it all
moves along with propulsive energy and there’s little time to ask questions.
Music
dominates the evening and what spoken dialogue there is doesn’t get much beyond
the rudimentary. Characters confront each other about their past lives, about
the ‘truth’ of the family’s kinship. And Lizzie, who is unable to move ahead
with her own life and manages to impose herself in the intimate affairs of the
Fuller family without them taking particular notice, is something of a plot
device more than she is a three-dimensional character. (Molly [Futaba Shioda], appears late in the
story and is nothing more than a necessary cog for Blaemire to tie up plot
lines – she deserves serious rethinking.)
The score
comprises more than a dozen songs, most of which favour a folk-rock style not
unlike songs from ‘Rent’, ‘Spring Awakening’ and, maybe most of all, ‘Falsettos’,
the masterwork by William Finn, the
man largely responsible for the BSC Musical Theatre Lab. Some songs are
standalone and others blend recitative with aria, and most end with similar
finale/anthem-like punctuation. Finally, what begins as interesting soon
becomes repetitive and then continues to be more so. The production benefits
from strong performances and excellent musical direction and, again touting BSC’s
strengths, the design elements support the work well beyond what most
development projects receive.
Hughes has
a big voice and expansive vocal range. His performance is physically alive and dominates
the St. Germain stage. Talented though he is, there’s a ‘watch-me-now’ quality
to the performance that wears thin long before the final blackout. Tacconi,
with a more modulated technique, is a good balance as the younger brother.
Jenkins’ skill at underplaying adds humanity to writing that comes close to
unearned sentimentality. Walton, who replaced Nicolette Robinson the evening I
attended, has a lovely voice, a quiet strength and personal charm that help to
get past the underwritten character that she plays. Shioda, also a replacement –
covering for Walton, who originally played Molly – is feisty, as required.
As noted earlier, the role is a plot device and one that sings, too. Shioda is
just fine with the song, but it comes too late and adds nothing that we don’t
already know.
“A Little
More Alive” takes on a dark subject without apology. Blaemire investigates the
power of memory and the complexities of family. He talks and sings of ‘home’ –
where it is, how we get there, when and why we return. The themes are universal
and eternal, to be sure, and although there is more work to be done, Blaemire
appears to know where he is headed.