'Love/Middle Ages' Premiere: Writers Proud, Audiences Agree

In development since 2003, and with three showcase productions in its hip pocket, the original musical "Love in the Middle Ages" had its fully-staged world premiere Friday night, August 22, 2008, much to the pride and delight of the opening crowd of well-wishers at the suburban Oak Park Village Players Theatre, at their lovely storefront Performing Arts Center. Subtitled, "A Baby Boomer's Guide to Love and Sex," the show holds great promise for future productions by amateur and suburban theater groups whose audience demographic skews a certain way. This musical production will ring very movingly true for some, and is a respectable low-budget effort for others, but it always wears its still-beating heart willingly, if a bit awkwardly, on its sleeve. A nice time was had by all, and you can't say that about every evening in the theater, now can you?

 

"Love in the Middle Ages" is the brainchild of Scott Urban, who wrote the book and lyrics and stars (in a very, very ensemble show) as Brad, a fifty-ish overweight guy somewhat along the lines of George Wendt's Norm from "Cheers."  The single and says-he-likes-it Brad finds himself living with two other single men of a certain age (one a recent widower and one weathering a recent divorce), and they meet three single women of a certain age (and their one married lady friend) at a heterosexual suburban Chicago watering hole whose staff are all young and whose patrons are all over forty. (I have never been there, but I will take your word that these places exist.) Apparently author Urban, a member of Chicago Cabaret Professionals, found himself in similar living circumstances in real life, and the germ of the show was born. Composer Bob Solone has written several classical works and performs as a singer/pianist at some prominent Chicago venues; this is apparently the first musical comedy for both men.

 

And what a show! 21 songs in 17 scenes (by my count, anyway), with a cast of 10 and (I think) three pit musicians, it was directed by DePaul MFA graduate Jason A. Fleece and musical directed by recent Northwestern graduate Tyler Beattie, both of whom profess to a love of new musicals and the development of new writing talent. The show is structured surprisingly like a play, with no opening or closing music (save for the curtain call), and includes a waitress named Jennifer (the spunky and wonderful Jeny Wasilweski), who comments on and narrates the tale of the dating adventures of what she terms "Boomis Americanis" like a Greek choregus armed with a laptrop, a drink tray and a thoroughly professional girlish belt.

 

The songs neatly fit in as extensions of the jokey dialogue, giving every cast member the chance to shine. Urban's lyrics are even better than his book-frequently insightful, always conversational and with easy, unforced rhymes. Solone's music is more successful on the ballads and more introspective connecting material, though his love of jazz and thorough assimilation of traditional Broadway up-tempo numbers is clearly apparent. Some of the faster numbers, however, suffer from a sameness as the number goes on, even though they are sufficiently different from one another. The best songs are the truly touching "Sleeping Alone," delivered by Guy Klinzing as the widower, Joe, the first act ensemble ballad "In Search of," which begins as a depiction of online dating and grows into universal longing, and the very fun production number "Rock n' Roll Soul," a very catchy non-Broadway number that perfectly catches the feeling of the aging baby boomer generation who are not about to go down without a fight, a drink and very possibly a toke or two of some memory-inducing weed.

 

Also worthy of mention are the recurring song "About Last Night," first introduced by Jeff Jones as the adorably bumbly and divorced Larry, and two duets ("Been There, Done That" and "Did I Have a Night") for Urban's Brad and the Ronnie of Joanna Riopelle, the cougar-on-the-prowl he ultimately tames (or is the other way around?). All the musical numbers are amplified by the fun and age-appropriate choreography of Christopher Pazdernik.

 

The four middle-aged ladies of the night, the thrice-divorced Ronnie (Riopelle), the married Donna (Mary Hobein at her prim best, until she unleashes herself in the surprisingly risqué "It's Always the Quiet Ones"), the earthy and divorced Sarah (Danon Dastugue) and the divorced and busy working mother Nancy (Michelle McKenzie-Voight in a late substitution) acquit themselves well in their first number, "How Did I Get to Be Me," showing some fine and fast four-part harmony. The acting in the opening scene, though, is a little shaky, whether from nerves or from superficial attempts to show the nervousness of the characters.

 

Much of the acting-and the singing-from the older actors is truthfully not at its best, but they are a well-rehearsed, likeable ensemble of clearly defined individuals, all of who grow and change, learning and loving and never giving up as they deal with the latest that life throws their way. The three younger actors, Wasilweski as Jennifer, Patrick Tierney as the very boyish Chip and Sarah Pitard as the blonde Tiffany, are more polished but have less to do, and I think that most of the audiences for this show will be fine with that.

 

The set, by Dominican University's Bill Jenkins, is superb, with the design for McGuffin's Bar including real beer tap handles, a computer screen for handling purchases, and liquor bottles (the white of Malibu's coconut rum bottle caught my eye). Alice Bernstein's lighting is fine if a bit unrehearsed, props by Cassandra Soliday are extensive and well-behaved, and the costumes by Gintare Jaloveckaite seem a little more frumpy in the evening wear than I would have thought, though the day wear seems right-on and comfortable. And the sound design by John List is fine, save for the miking of the string bass, which at one point was causing worry amongst opening night audience members, who weren't sure that it was, but it sure was loud.

 

Once the performance takes on a more assured tone, the first act plays beautifully, though suffering a bit from repetitious stage business. The second act, while seeming to run a little long, uses the playing space much better and seems even more relaxed and mature, though perhaps too relaxed.

 

But this show ends, as it should, with some characters in love, some just friends, and all both wise and confidently hopeful. Wouldn't the world be a better place if we were all like that? And wouldn't musical comedies be more real if they all had insight, fun and feeling among the jokes and the practiced stagecraft? "Love in the Middle Ages" deserves a long, long life, in theaters where audiences with time on their hands and life under their belts can kick back, laugh a little and think about where they are and where they're going. And with whom. And why. Ah, life. Ah, love. Ah, me.

 

"Love in the Middle Ages" runs through September 21, 2008 at the Village Players Performing Arts Center, 1010 Madison Street, Oak Park Illinois. Show times are 8:00 pm Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and 3:00 pm Sunday. Tickets are $25 for adults and $20 for students and seniors. Tickets are available at www.village-players.org or by calling 866-764-1010.

 

Photos, from top: Joanna Riopelle and Scott Urban; Guy Klinzing, Mary Hobein, Jeff Jones, Sarah Pitard, Patrick Tierney and Danon Dastugue; Jeff Jones; Danon Dastugue and Patrick Tierney; Danon Dastugue and Guy Klinzing

 

Photography courtesy of Maggie McKenna

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