Review: THE NEW DECAMERON: SONGWRITERS IN LOCKDOWN at The Triad Theater

A packed Triad Theater “partied like it was 1348” at a live event to launch the pilot episode of a new web series, The New Decameron: Songwriters in Lockdown, at The Triad Theater on November 17. A project created by songwriters John Forster, Hillary Rollins, and Tom Toce during the COVID-19 pandemic, the series contains original songs that combine elements of musical comedy and podcasting, created as a way to connect and cope through storytelling during lockdown.

Modeled after Giovanni Boccaccio's 14th century work, The Decameron, a collection of stories told by a group of friends escaping the plague, this new version uses original story songs to tell stories of people coping with modern-day isolation in a "villa in cyberspace,” combined with material culled from hours of actual Zoom chats with newly shot music videos, comedic bits, and animation, edited into a cohesive episode.

Forster, Rollins and Toce are brilliant and erudite songwriters with a penchant for witty songs and impressive wordplay. In addition to their own songs, they enlisted contributions from several well-known songwriters, including Julie Gold and Michele Brourman. Forster was the musical director, orchestrator and producer.

Forster, at the piano, opened the live portion of the event with his wonderful, MAC Award-winning “The Zoom Song,” leading the audience into a zany singalong of the refrain, “Don’t try to sing along on Zoom.” The pilot episode was screened to the sold-out audience, with more live songs following.

The episode’s songs included the title song and “Invitation to a Hang” (“Party, Party, Party”), written by the trio, “Strictly for Show” (Michele Brourman/Tom Toce), and the wonderfully macabre “Why I Don’t Go Camping Anymore” (Matt Corriel).

Singer/songwriter and actress Jessica Fishenfeld did additional directing, and, along with Pascal Akesson and artist Francesca Rizzo, did quite an excellent job on the video editing. Rizzo and Anna Michael contributed impressive graphics and animation work.

After the episode, the live performance featured three of the songwriters featured in the pilot, another who “didn’t make the cut,” and more performances by the trio.

Billy Recce performed the charming “Go Into Finance," about his mother's advice after hearing him perform.

Matt Corriel performed a number from his own lingering pandemic project, “The Foster” (“Foster love; that’s all you have to give”). Corriel combined impressive Lin-Manuel Miranda-style rap and singing.

Julie Gold performed “Pianist,” a song about words that you want to say wrong because they’re funny, like “Uranus,” prodding the audience to sing them with her.

Toce, on guitar, performed his “rejected” song referenced in the episode, “Pumpsie Green,” an ode to the baseball player Elijah Jerry “Pumpsie” Green, the first Black player for the Red Sox. Rollins, who boasts a lustrous head of long hair down to her butt, performed her popular ditty about the reality of aging at the appearance of a stray gray pubic hair, “Hair Down There.”

With the assistance of a video of the trio animated by artist Francesca Rizzo, Forster, Rollins and Toce closed the show with the hilarious “Boo Hoo.”

If this first, riotously funny episode is any indication, The New Decameron: Songwriters in Lockdown will be the web equivalent of must-watch TV, and their mythical “Vivify Network” will be the Vandelay Industries of a new generation. There are some eight or nine episodes “in the can.” This writer can’t wait to watch them.

There is not yet a website or social media for the series but you can learn more about John Forster at johnforster.com, Tom Toce at tomtocesongwriter.com, and Hillary Rollins at hillaryrollins.com. You can follow Rollins’ Instagram at @hillaryrollinspresents.