Life On The Road As Therapy

-->

The Mad Ones, now on-stage at 59 E 59 Theaters, is a musical of both youthful exuberance and heartbreak. In a very non-New York centric way, it uses the analogy of cars and the road for freedom. For most of America, it is an obvious metaphor.  The title itself refers to the characters from Jack Kerouac’s novel, On The Road – The Mad Ones are the freewheeling group that speaks to our heroine.

L-R: Emma Hunton (as Kelly) and Krystina Alabado (as Samantha Brown) in Kait Kerrigan and Brian Lowdermilk’s THE MAD ONES at 59E59 Theaters. Photo by Richard Termine

Samantha (Krystina Alabado) is a teenager on the cusp of adulthood, and all the emotional baggage that entails. She longs to be crazy and free - in general terms like the characters in Kerouac’s novel and, in specific, like her friend Kelly (Emma Hunton). She and Kelly have taken road trips, stayed out late talking through the night, and planned to chuck it all and just drive away. Kelly was Samantha’s best friend and instigator. But Kelly was killed right before graduation, and Samantha has been frozen since.

Samantha’s mother, Beverly (Leah Hocking), is a dynamic professor, brilliant woman and overly protective single mother. She wants Samantha, High School Valedictorian, to attend an Ivy League school and become a success. Samantha is pulled between the future her mother wants and the future her friend Kelly offers. Thrown into the mix is her unobtrusive and supportive, if a bit dim, boyfriend Adam (Jay Armstrong Johnson). Adam is just “there” for Samantha, the sweet boy without an agenda, unloved both Kelly and her mother.

These competing forces converge one night as Samantha is about to drive away from home, maybe to college, maybe just drive away. She sits caught between the competing visions of her future. The Mad Ones is a musical set against these competing visions, and the cast has the pipes to carry the show beautifully. Each actor has at least one moment in song that is touching, but the stars of this show are Krystina Alabado and Emma Hunton. Their voices are wonderful and their scenes together are a joy.

But this combination is also key to the drawback of The Mad Ones. Together, Kelly drives Sam into action. However, when alone, Samantha is a passive character. True, she longs for something, that something is frustratingly undefined. Samantha is a reactive creature: reacting to her friend, her mother or her boyfriend in turn. When alone, her youthful confusion has a tendency to turn into whining.

Most of the songs (Kait Kerrigan and Brian Lowdermilk) are very good: catchy and fun or serious and soulful. There is an overreliance on the metaphor of a car as freedom, which grinds after a while. The sparse direction of Stephen Brackett is perfect for the space here. It is a spare story in a spare space and he allows the actors to fill it with pathos and song. The Mad Ones may not make you wish for a road trip, but you definitely want the best for our little Sam, all grown up now.

The Mad Ones | Book, Lyrics & Music: Kait Kerrigan, Brian Lowdermilk | Director: Stephen Brackett | Cast: Krystina Alabado, Leah Hocking, Emma Hunton, Jay Armstrong Johnson | Website

-->

Hands on a Hardbody Is a Great Surprise

The cast of Hands on a Hardbody

The story behind Hands on a Hardbody doesn’t immediately suggest a musical.  It is the story of a competition in West Texas where a dozen people vie to see who can keep one hand on a new truck the longest.  The winner takes home the truck.  The story became a documentary and now a musical.  Along with its East Texas setting and strong accents, it opens as if it might be a parody of hick stereotypes.  But Hands has something else on its mind.  It evokes a new recession version of They Shoot Horses Don’t They, with all the pathos that suggests, but without the persistent bleakness.  It is a fun piece, with an constant undercurrent of reality.

 We are treated to the stories of the contestants, who see the truck as a reward for perseverance and a ticket to better things.  The automobile as a symbol of the American dream has a long history, retold to a new generation every year.  The winner, whoever it is, dreams of driving away from their current troubles; for some of them, escape is figurative but for others it is the thought of quite literally leaving small town Texas.

Jay Armstrong Johnson & Allison Case

The music that gives voice to these dreams is by Trey Anastasio (of Phish) and Amanda Green, lyrics by Ms. Green.  It is a broad sweep of styles including traditional Broadway along with country, folk and gospel.  Not all songs hit, but when they do, they soar.  Stronger and Joy of the Lord are two numbers that touched me, but there are a lot of great songs in this show.  The cast moves about surprisingly often, giving that they are often rooted to a truck (which swings and moves as much as anyone else).

Hands on a Hardbody is awash with local accents and colloquialisms, all carried well.  The show doesn’t make fun of these people, but exposes them and their dreams individually to the audience.  It stresses the commonality of experience and recession driven angst, despite the differences in location or economic status.

Filled with well-known names like Hutton Foster and Keith Carradine (who are both excellent), it was some lesser known members of the cast that made my throat catch.  Keala Settle plays a Latina mother with a strong faith in God.  She occasionally steals the show.  David Larsen and Jay Armstrong Johnson both turn in moving performances as young men on different paths - they look at the same truck and see salvation in different forms.  These 3 performers are lucky to get 3 excellent songs (Mr. Armstrong duets with the lovely and talented Allison Case).

Since it is a test of endurance, the energy begins to fade for a short while near the very end, but the play moves on and up quickly.  Book writer Doug Wright has created a nice level of tension that is expanded by the individual stories.  It explores the very American expectation that things will get better if you only work at it, but doesn't hide the ever-present possibility of failure.  And, how quickly Americans recover from it. Predestined outcomes often figure in Europe stories (star-crossed and doomed lovers, children paying for the sins of their parents or grandparents).  What Mr. Wright has done is take an American set of beliefs, things get better with perseverance and each set-back is temporary, and given them un-ironic voice in Hands on a Hardbody.

(facing) Keala Settle, Hutton Foster and David Carradine

Neil Pepe directs this group well.  Working with choreographer Sergio Trujillo, they have introduced plenty of movement and action into a piece that could easily have been static and boring.  Hands on a Hardbody is a very good show, uplifting without being sentimental.

Hands on a Hardbody

Music: Trey Anastanio and Amanda Green

Lyrics: Amanda Green

Book: Doug Wright

Director: Neil Pepe

Cast: Keith Carradine, Allison Case, Hunter Foster, Jay Armstrong Johnson, David Larsen, Jocob Ming-Trent, Kathleen Elizabeth Monteleone, Mary Gordon Murray, Jim Newman, Connie Ray, Jon Rua, Keala Settle, Dale Soules, Scott Wakefield, William Youmans

Website