Review: WHY DO FOOLS FALL IN LOVE Almost Tugs the Heart Strings

Why Do Fools Fall In Love had a short run this past weekend and was produced by PickapArt Theatre in association with The Acting Ensemble. The musical, created and written by Roger Bean, tells the story of Millie and friends at an impromptu bachelorette party where they sing their way through 1960's songs trying to understand love and all its struggles. This version was directed by Dave Kempher and had the main actresses double as part of the production team.

To put it bluntly, while I have no doubt that this team put effort into making this show happen (as almost all production teams do), there were just some parts to this musical that were lacking. It was a small team, in a small space, so obviously not everything is always going to be perfect... but there were some flubs that seemed to be very much avoidable.

The chair setup for the audience to watch the show was very bizarre and not conducive to being able to watch the show comfortably. The seats were put on levels such that some chairs were actually placed lower than the ones in front of them, meaning you could only watch the show if you stuck your head out down the aisle. Before the show started, most of the audience was playing musical chairs to try and find a spot they could be semi-satisfied with. The show also hurt from awkward transitions into songs where there were a few good seconds before any music played so we all sat in an odd silence. My next biggest gripe, the one that to me is the most egregious flaw, was that this was such a small performance space but it was extremely hard to hear most of the actresses sing or even speak. If there is no need for mics because of the small venue, then that means a voice should be loud enough to carry throughout the entire audience of at most 30 people. Save for one actress, there was almost no projection from the others when speaking and worse, being barely audible when singing in a musical. Because of this, a lot of the solo songs caused a huge drop in energy when performed. With the combination of the delayed transition into a song and then straining to hear it, most songs left an awkward, sluggish feeling on stage.

Each actress did have their own unique aptitude on stage. Alexandria Sadoski played the character Millie, and was by far the best actress of the night, showing a skill for being able to play a range of emotions as well as appearing the most natural. Samantha Shepard, who played Dee Dee, had the best characterization of the night, as she totally embraced the ditzy Dee Dee and played with abandon. Maia Sutter, who played Flo, sang the most beautiful song of the night, "Lonely Boy Medley". Finally, Tyler Marcotte, who played Sally, stole the show with an amazing singing voice that was crisp and she honestly had the most energy of the entire cast (and not just because her character was high-spirited). Marcotte kept the musical moving and was the light at the end of the tunnel.

The musical also had other positive qualities. When the cast sang as a group, the energy and lively pacing returned and was more reminiscent of good musical theatre. There were various comedic bits and tactics that were cute and endearing such as creating a fake car in the middle of the set with hanging dice, flashlights, and comical dance sequences. The actresses also did a fantastic job of creating very definite relationships between their characters, so you always understood the degree of their friendships and "who was who" in their pack of friends. The second act was also much better than the first, with all aspects of the show improving as time went on.

It should be noted that I saw the first show of the run, so maybe a lot of the volume issues and awkwardness can be chocked up to nerves. Either way, there was definitely some room for improvement but I have faith in the performers and this theatre because of work I've seen from them in the past has been topnotch.

Photo Credit: Dave Kempher

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