FRINGE REVIEW: JONESTOWN, THE MUSICAL

I have only two words to describe everything good about Jonestown, The Musical: Marla Schaffel. Ms. Schaffel, you see, can do no wrong. She represents everything right with musical theatre today. Even given such swill to perform as Jonestown, The Musical, she is a vibrant and stunning presence onstage, effortlessly stealing the show.

Yes, this review will have to be a love letter to Ms. Schaffel, because there's really not very much else to praise in this schizophrenic mess of a musical. Clearly hoping to be this year's Urinetown, Jonestown (please note the similarity of the names, in case you'd missed it) is a brightly cynical musical "comedy" about the 1978 mass suicide in Guyana that left 914 followers of the Reverend Jim Jones dead. Of course, the darkest material can make for a brilliant musical– the Leo Frank tragedy was beautifully brought to the stage in 1998's Parade, for example. The immensity of the events in Jonestown deserve either a thought-provoking drama, or a scathing social satire about religious hypocrisy or the desire to belong to some community or blind faith in corrupt leaders. Jonestown, The Musical is neither dramatic, nor thought-provoking, nor scathing, nor satirical. It's just painful, and downright offensive. The 914 victims of Jim Jones deserve better than this mess.

But oh, that Marla Schaffel! She can light up a stage while simply sitting still. That energy, that poise, that voice! Yes, Marla Schaffel is wonderful. (There, the producers have their pull-quote.)

The book, music, lyrics, and direction, on the other hand, are not wonderful. Larry Lees' music is adequate if non-descript, but his collaboration with librettist Brian Silliman on the lyrics leaves much to be desired. Now, I won't demand that every lyricist be a Hammerstein or Hart or Sondheim or Brown or LaChiusa, but when even the characters acknowledge the difficulty of finding clever rhymes, you know you're in trouble. The book, which tries to be trendy and hip and timely (complete with anachronistic references to the war in Iraq, and out-of-character references to the anachronisms), is mostly flat, despite the most valiant efforts of the cast. A sample of the hipness: "Don't you musically threaten me!" The scenes switch awkwardly from manic comedy to pensive drama so rapidly that the show is not effective as either.

And if most of the actors seem rather bland and interchangeable, they can't really be blamed. They try, bless them, but there's not much one can do with such a weak script. J. Mark McVey plays the legendarily charismatic Jim Jones without very much charisma, but his strong singing shows some of the color that his dialogue lacks. Robert Creighton hams it up as a politician who, belatedly discovering his conscience, tries to help the residents of Jonestown. His singing, dancing, and comic timing are very good, and it isn't hard to imagine him as a delightful Max Bialystock in a few years. Matt Cavenaugh looks very pretty and sings nicely, but is rather bland in the rather bland role of the protagonist, a young man slowly realizing that his wonderful new community is has a much darker side than he'd thought. It's a role that should give any good actor plenty of meat to chew on, but Lees and Silliman hardly give Cavenaugh any chance to take a bite. By the end of the play, when Cavenaugh again becomes the show's central figure (after we spend hours hearing from Jones and Creighton's Leo Ryan), we've stopped caring about him or his emotional conflicts.

Fortunately, there's also Marla Schaffel, who makes the most of her role as Jones' put-upon wife. Her character shows the most development, going from eager helpmate to embittered servant to horrified and furious dissenter. Ms. Schaffel strips Marceline Jones down to her core and performs with genuine pathos, making her character the most sympathetic of the lot. And it should be noted that while half of the leads use microphones (making for a very odd listening experience in scenes with miked and unmiked actors), Ms. Schaffel sings and speaks unamplified.

The Jonestown tragedy could make a wonderful musical drama, and the fact that this show had such potential only adds insult to the injury.