BWW Reviews: THE GREAT AMERICAN TRAILER PARK MUSICAL at MAD Theatre of Tampa

Are your tastes rather highbrow? Are you waiting for Strindberg's Miss Julie to open at your neighborhood playhouse, or maybe Pirandello's L'uomo, la Bestia e la Virtu? Do you prefer Ingmar Bergman to Ingrid Bergman, and think that Yo Yo Ma is just a little too popular for your tastes? Is even Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music beneath you? Do you have the following inner argument--which is the better caviar, beluga or sevruga? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then please move onto the next review.

No? Well, you have been warned.

THE GREAT AMERICAN TRAILER PARK MUSICAL, MAD Theatre's latest production playing at the Shimberg through June 21st, puts the honey in "Honey Boo Boo." This show is obviously written trying to be the "white trash musical" to end all "white trash musicals." It's certainly fun, yet it also puts me in a bit of a quandary. What do you do when you see a well-directed production with an amazing cast and incredible vocals, but the show itself (mainly the script and the score) just does not work for you? The audience laughed and, yes, the cast transcended the forced humor of the script, but I really have to review two separate entities here: the performances (overall quite good) and the story/script/songs themselves (not so good).

The plot is like a mini-soap opera (call it The Young and the Trashy, or maybe The Gaudy Light). In Florida's Armadillo Acres trailer park, Norbert is a toll collector who cheats on his agoraphobic wife with a stripper named Pippi. That's about it, though we also have a baby kidnapping, a power outage and the Ice Capades to contend with. Although the songs by David Nehls are energetic and the whole show exudes Dionysian fun (mostly thanks to the fine cast), there isn't a memorable tune in the lot, and Nehls' lyrics are cringe-worthy at best. (Sondheimian note to songwriter: "much" and "slut" don't really rhyme.)

Look, the job of a reviewer isn't always easy. My credo has a mere two points: 1) be honest, and 2) be fair. Some shows have terrific scripts and songs, but the production falls short. (Last year, I saw an awful production of The Pajama Game, and yet it had great songs like "Hey There"; the production just wasn't worthy of the show.) Here, I have the opposite problem. The show isn't worthy of this fine production. I had the same problem last year with Jobsite's Return to the Forbidden Planet at the Jaeb...incredible performances in a so-so script; but the songs in Planet were at least classic rock standards and hummable, but we have no such luck with THE GREAT AMERICAN TRAILER PARK MUSICAL.

Still, I can move past this to share some incredibly happy news: We have amazing talent in the Bay Area and a lot of that talent is on the Shimberg stage in THE GREAT AMERICAN TRAILER PARK MUSICAL. What a fine cast, all of whom sing beautifully!

Leading the way are the three girl narrators, sort of a white trash Greek Chorus--Lisa Stanforth as Betty, Jamie Millan as Lin and Kaitlyn Rosen as Pickles. They reminded me of low-rent versions of the girl group street urchins in Little Shop of Horrors. (In fact, their "This Side of the Tracks" has a quasi-"Skid Row" feel to it.) Stanforth is the standout of the group, hoisting the show onto her shoulders and taking it away. She's outstanding. Her singing and acting are tops, and she turns this role (as well as a dream version of a Sally Jesse Raphael-like TV talk show host) into gold. Millan's Lin out-belts any belter I know; her vocals and stage presence are amazing. Plus her facial reactions, as if she's just smelled something rotten (the scent, not the musical), are a hoot. Rosen's Pickles was an obvious audience favorite; however, I sometimes had a hard time understanding some of her lines due to diction issues.

As one of only two men in the cast, Rick Faurote as regular-guy Norbert shakes the walls with his powerful voice. He has a way of making the part seem ordinary and yet watchable, real life and yet theatrical. And he dives head first into the ridiculousness of the part, whether exclaiming "Holy ham sandwiches!" at every opportunity or wearing cheesy attire in the number, "Storm's A-Brewin'." (In his long blond wig at the end of Act 1, Faurote looks like an amalgam of the lead singer of White Snake, the late Christopher Lee as Saruman in Lord of the Rings, and a demented Suzanne Somers.)

As Jeannie, Norbert's "Frankie Says Relax" t-shirt-donning wife who never leaves the trailer, Dionne Christian has some exquisite moments and is extremely likable. We really root for her and feel for her when she is abandoned at a key moment in her life. Her duet with Faurote on "Owner of My Heart" is a highlight of the show.

Iris Moon (great name) plays Pippi, stripper at the Litterbox Show Palace, and boy can she dance! Her gyrations on the stripper pole, including some upside down gymnastics, are not to be missed. Moon also has some diction issues; she has a tendency of letting the ends of sentences drop off and fade into silence, and we can't always understand her dialogue because it's spoken so softly and too quickly. But she does well in the role and her lack of self-consciousness is endearing.

As Duke, Pippi's demented boyfriend, Joshua Monsoon steals every scene he's in. He reminded me of the Dentist in Little Shop, but instead of giggle gas, he sniffs markers. (You could also go as far as to say "Road Kill" is the show's equivalent of Little Shop's "Be a Dentist.") But Monsoon commands the stage and is a ton of fun, and he makes for a hilarious Mr. Clean in "Flushed Down the Pipes." There's even a "Marathon Man" reference with a gun joke involving him that I will not give away here.

The entire cast has some of the tightest harmonies I've heard in a long time--not just in community theatre, but in professional theatre as well. They sound glorious together. I just wish the work itself was worthy of their immense talents.

The production is well-staged by director/choreographer Anthony Paul Gilkinson, who obviously knows what he's doing. He's an extraordinary talent, and we feel confident that we are in good hands throughout it. I like the different allusions to other musicals--such as the Mamma Mia allusion at the end of Act 1. There's even a possible Heathers: The Musical homage with plungers taking the place of croquet mallets in "Flushed Down the Pipes." Gilkinson's next stop will be directing the Pulitzer Prize winning "Next to Normal," which will be as far away from Armadillo Acres as you can get.

Perhaps the biggest applause of the night belongs to musical director Peter Belk. The songs and voices sounded incredible, and the band was extraordinary--Alex Pasut on bass, PJ Lalka on drums, and Tom Spittle on guitar, all well-conducted by Belk, who also plays a mean keyboard.

Sue Nester's costumes work fine most of the time, and Dwayne A. Cline's set is simple and cute, with trailer facades of various colors and Christmas tree lights aplenty. Before the show, perhaps a dozen audience members sat in the lawn chairs onstage and took selfies. There was a sense of party in the air, and I love that "whoo-hoo" atmosphere; it's perfect for this particular show. During the production, the audience laughed a lot, especially in Act 1, and it seemed to be more of a party than a show. But the party atmosphere simmers down in Act 2 thanks to the thankless script.

The writing is a bit too pop culture mainstream for my liking. I wish it had more good-bad taste in the John Waters vein, where, as Mel Brooks puts it, it "rises below vulgarity." I felt the proceedings tried too hard to be edgy and bawdy without the necessary cleverness. But if the mention of Britney Spears or Lindsey Lohan makes you giggle, or if the title "Stand By Your Flan" tickles your funny bone, then the show's definitely for you. Also, I found the script to be a decade out of date. Many of the references ("Joan Rivers on the QVC") just don't pertain to today.

As much as I didn't connect with the script or score of THE GREAT AMERICAN TRAILER PARK MUSICAL, I think these performances need to be seen. Talent is talent, and when it's on display as it is here, it needs to be recognized for all its worth, no matter how lame the material.

It's no secret that MAD Theatre puts on some of the best shows in the area. They have never steered me wrong, and their track record remains strong. I must give a shout out to whoever is responsible for the creation of the program for including a full song list; this definitely helps in a musical like this, which isn't as well known as, say, Man of La Mancha or Mame.

In the end, I guess the title of THE GREAT AMERICAN TRAILER PARK MUSICAL almost tells it all. "American," yes. Set in a "Trailer Park," yes. A "Musical," yes. But "Great"? Not so fast. The only thing great is the incredible cast that make the unmemorable score and unfunny book come alive. They deserve a standing ovation and all the kudos imaginable--they have taken something from nothing and turned it into a rootin'-tootin' evening of fun. It just didn't connect with me. Maybe it's because I like Crown Ambassador Reserve instead of Pabst Blue Ribbon, foie gras instead of goldfish crackers. Anyway, see the show for yourself, party hardy, bring friends, take selfies before it starts, have fun. Because in the end, that's what it's all about. Fun.

As for me, I have my beluga caviar waiting while I sit and watch Michelangelo Antonioni's L'Avventura.

MAD Theatre of Tampa's production of THE GREAT AMERICAN TRAILER PARK MUSICAL plays at the Shimberg Playhouse in the Straz Center for the Performing Arts until June 21st. Please call (813) 386-6173 for more information.