I saw the first preview of Girlfriend at the Kirk Douglas Theatre here in L.A. (Culver City) last night. It is running until August 9th. I can see this little 2 person show transfer to the Public Theatre like Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson did. It played the same theatre and transferred there. It is kind of like Hedwig in the sense that its two leads and a band in the back.. only that the 2 leads are both important. It was a coming of age story between two gay guys. Just finished high school, it's summer, and one has plans for college and the other doesn't. One was a high school loser? and the other a jock. It was so cute. It was a story of first love, first discovery, and the rock music was so good. It is a one act musical 90 minutes. The music should make you want to see it alone. Those musical numbers were SO GOOD. It did make a lot of the audience laugh a lot. Ryder Bach & Curt Hansen (Next to Normal, Wicked, Hairspray) were so great on stage. If you can, don't miss it. It's a small theatre, and it will get sold out.
Stupid me. I just read that the score is from Matthew Sweet's 'Girlfriend' album from 1991. So it's kind of like the musical American Idiot.. they sing the songs from the original album. I've never heard these songs.. They were really good. I just bought the original album since there isn't a cast recording yet. I love the song 'Winona'.
I clearly have been living under a rock, as I had no idea that this was Matthew Sweet's Girlfriend! 15 years ago, I fell in love with that record, albeit 10 years late (hey, I was 6 when it came out!)
I'm now super interested in this and have no reason and no chance of getting to LA anytime soon. Boo.
I saw this last night and thought it was pretty bad. The acting is terrible, the singing is only so-so, the set design is ugly and weird, and the book is thin and cliched. I wasn't really familiar with Matthew Sweet, but none of the songs made me want to buy his album (they weren't bad, just forgettable). It might have been a decent show with better actors -- there's some cute dialogue that could have been funny had it been delivered by actors with comedic chops -- but this was a bit painful (also literally -- the seats in the Kirk Douglas are very uncomfortable).
Plus I skipped dinner so I was starving. But luckily there was a reception afterwards, where they served Vietnamese food for some strange reason.
Just saw this. I have a new favorite musical. It was absolutely incredible- I just wish there were a cast recording for me to take home.
I would love to see this go to Broadway. I NEVER see a show twice and could see this production over and over. I fell in love with the simple set, the music and both actors.
I loved everything about this show (and the Kirk Douglas Theater). The simplicity of the set and the sweet relatable story line (regardless of sexual orientation ). The arc from the awkward early accidental touches to the greatly anticipated first kiss and then...was nicely portrayed. There seemed to be a genuine chemistry between Bach and Hansen. The all girl band ROCKED. Would love to see this show advance further.
Saw this tonight in Oklahoma City at the Lyric Theatre. I enjoyed it. Yes. It’s not perfect. The music was great and weaves into the storyline very well. I especially loved the way they used the song Evangeline. But not much really happens. You could say the same thing about Once but there were enough minor subplots and characters to make Once feel more substantial. There are no subplots in Girlfriend. Still as is, it’s more developed than Superhero. I went in knowing very little about Matthew Sweet’s music other than he exists and walked out wishing there was a cast recording.
I loved the set design, the band, and the two leads were very good. Jimmy Mavrokes (Will) and Ian Marcontell (Mike). Ian is a local OKC actor with several Lyric productions under his belt. Jimmy has a fairly long resume of shows for such a young man.
By the way, if any of you have the option of seeing the show, the theater is basically a black box theater and fairly small. There really is no bad seat in the theater although one of the major complaints is acoustics are not awesome so it’s often to your betterment to just sit closer to the stage. I only paid $31 ($25?+ fees) for my ticket (the cheapest available) and sat front row far right and didn’t miss much of anything visually but sometimes it was hard to hear a couple of exchanges.
It runs 95 minutes with no intermission.
I heard a Lyric staff person talking to a patron about the show before it started tonight. It sounded like he was defending the decision to bring it to OKC. I got the impression that it had been his decision. I found great pride that OKC (the buckle of the Bible Belt) is hosting the regional premiere of this sweet little gay love story. I might go again just to support it.
I'm a fan of this show as well - I saw it in DC last year (with Jimmy Mavrokes - he's in the OKC production) and am traveling to Connecticut to see it again :)
If you can't get to LA or OKC, do a Google search to see where else it is playing! If you are interested in the Connecticut show, it's running at TheaterWorks (Hartford) http://www.theaterworkshartford.org/ from Marc 22 to April 28.
I'd love for it to come to NYC - not sure if the Public would be the right fit, maybe Theatre Row, Signature or Second Stage?
joined:5/24/13
joined:
5/24/13
Posted: 7/13/15 at 3:04pm