Broward's
Stage Door Theatre puts a cute little dimple on the summer entertainment
season. Ray Roderick and John Glaudini's musical revue Are We
There Yet? ranges from silly to touching as they explore the
speed bumps, potholes and occasional smooth-sailing pleasures
of family life.
Roderick, co-writer with James Hindman and
Cheryl Stern, also directs this series of vignettes to Glaudini's
perky musical riffs. In the Stage Door's tiny Theatre Two in
Coral Springs, Roderick can't give Are We There Yet? the visual
or choreographic inventiveness that the Florida Stage provided
for his earlier effort with Glaudini, Heaven Help Us.
Nevertheless, the pace is strong and steady
as the material swings between humor and pathos, and, though,
staged as a light diversion, their sketches can be surprisingly
poignant and moving. The hook, delivered by Lori Nuti in a
short introduction, is "[family] heirlooms we don't have
but stories we've got."
The title stems from the opening sketch, which
reflects the common backseat kiddie chorus experienced on every
long family trip. The ensemble of Krista Benson, Shawn Kilgore
and Nuti tag along behind the unattached steering wheel in
Dan Kelley's hands, forming a neatly balanced quartet, both
comically and musically.
Among the highlights is a comic skit about
an interview by a pre-school administrator with both the expectant
parents and the unborn child itself. Kelley and Benson are
the new parents, and Nuti the family dog, in New Baby Ballet,
followed by a Baby Rap by Kilgore as a giant-sized newborn.
In I Know She's Out There, Nuti is a mother
who gave up her daughter for adoption and Benson is a young
woman seeking her natural mother. In a lovely story-song, the
duet describes their quest. Kilgore plays a man who cared for
his Alzheimer-stricken mother for a decade in Inheriting Laura,
and now fears he may be showing symptoms of the same affliction.
Nuti also spoofs a popular tune while portraying
supermom in Because I'm a Mommy; Kelley and Kilgore send up
the country-western show Hee Haw in Blood Is Thicker Than Water,
about two bumpkins who strike it rich by mooching on their
relatives.
Nuti, last seen in this same space in No Way
to Treat a Lady, once again shows a gift for both comedy and
melody. Here, she also lobs more than a few heartthrobs. Benson,
also returning from Lady, this time shows the comic side of
her repertoire. Kelley, the Stage Door's former resident director/leading
man, and Kilgore both sell the quick-hitting sketches with
conviction.
Music director David Cohen leads an instrumental
trio from the stage balcony, with J. Branson's muted, abstract
set suggesting the granite blocks of a stylish apartment building.
The details of a wide range of locales are filled in with brightly
colored props, with lighting by Anthony White and costume coordination
by Larry Bauman.
Jack Zink can be reached at jzink@sun-sentinel.com or
954-356-4706.
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