Aside
from a few glitches with the sound, there is only one thing basically
wrong with the new musical "Are We There Yet?"
The problem: It's only at Springfield's CityStage
for five days, through tomorrow.
This delightful musical revue, which has a
talented cast of four actors and three musicians, explores
the many definitions of family through short vignettes connected
with brief transitions that keep the action flowing. Touching
on many points in the circle of modern life, it's funny, poignant
and perceptive and includes some great singing and dancing.
Writers James Hindman, Ray Roderick and
Cheryl Stern have crafted a show along the lines of "I
Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change," previously seen
at CityStage. Under Roderick's direction, the performers (with
lightning-quick costume changes) assume many identities, from
an oversized baby to old people. And John Glaudini's music
encompasses many styles, helping to give the show a dynamic
feeling of never staying in the same place too long.
The cast - Susan Haefner, Duke Lafoon, Kevin
Pariseau and Beverly Ward - starts out in a car formed by simple
props. They sing the title song in a number that includes recognizable
ups and downs in any family trip, including the kid in the
back seat who really has to go to the bathroom NOW."Inutero
Interview," also featuring the cast, lampoons the super-competitive
schools admission process, while "Waiting for Jennie" with
Lafoon (a dubious dad) and Haefner (gracefully breezing through
a balletic parody) looks at both the silly and sweet side of
dance recitals. Haefner and Ward ham it up in "Batting
Zero," a hysterical look at two mothers rooting with all
their might during a third-grade baseball game. The show takes
a little dip with "Coach Bob," a thin monologue that
doesn't add much to the show, but picks up steam when Ward
does a wonderful burlesque in "'Cause I'm a Mommy." The
other cast members play her family as they speed through a
mom's busy day. (Best use of a prop: the toilet plunger.) Act
1 concludes with a catchy medley about consumerism, "Ching,
Ching, Ching."Act 2 continues on a high note with the
cast using top hats and canes in a glitzy dance to "Your
Parents Push Your Buttons" (because they put them there)." In "Whiplash," one
of two numbers with music by Tom Kochan, Lafoon and Haefner
play out the ups and downs of the dating game in a physically
and emotionally exhausting rollercoaster ride, while Pariseau
goes through a range of conflicting emotions in "Giving
Her Away" as a father preparing to walk his daughter down
the aisle. Another high point of the second act: "I Know
She's Out There," a beautiful and tender duet, filled
with longing, in which Haefner and Ward play an adopted child
(Haefner) looking for her biological mother and a mother (Ward)
looking for her child.
In the last number the cast sings "It's
all about the journey so enjoy the ride," an apt conclusion
to a show that took the audience on an enjoyable ride of its
own.
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