Review: STUFF OF DREAMS at The White Theatre

Kansas City is fortunate to have several well-equipped venues willing to take a flyer on new and locally sourced experiments that fulfill theatrical dreams.  One of these venues is a wonderful, five hundred seat proscenium facility called the White Theatre located within Overland Park’s Jewish Community Center. 

“Stuff of Dreams” is a locally written and produced original musical play within a play. It is offered by the writing team of Barbara Nichols and Krista Eyler. Eyler is also responsible for conjuring the musical score. 

The vision is a 1950’s style musical play. Eyler assumes one of the starring roles. Nichols is the director.  “Stuff of Dreams” has a cast of nineteen, a staff of seventeen, in addition to a venue staff of thirteen. Nichols and Eyler (have already offered two previous shows) and have chomped off a huge bite in “Stuff of Dreams.”   Audiences are seeing a first cut of what will no doubt morph multiple times before it settles into its final form.

Creating any musical play is a long, long process. “Hadestown,” for example, took fifteen years before opening in its present form.  “West Side Story” took ten years before it opened on Broadway.  “West Side” was originally conceived on the “East Side.”  The Jets and Sharks became poor white kids opposed by an Hispanic gang from Puerto Rico after having transitioned from a gang of Jewish kids in conflict with a similar group of Irish youngsters. The point is the gestation of great shows is more complicated than you think.

“Stuff of Dreams” imagines a financially troubled community theatre company operated by a couple in love with each other (Al and Totti) and with what they do.  Al (Joel Morrison) is the group’s artistic director, but an upcoming production will have to be both produced AND directed by Al’s partner in life Tottie (JC Tatschl). 

The couple and the theater are in debt.  The lighting board has pooped out.  The furnace is in dire need of replacement.  Al and Tottie have tapped all their resources.  Al must accept an offered job as a plumbing parts salesman.  For some unknown reason, Al must travel for his new job.

The pressure is on! The theater has accepted the challenge of being the first amateurs in the nation to perform a successful Broadway offering called “Betsy Ross: Seams of Dreams.”  I kind of get the idea that the new show is intended to resemble a cross between “1776” and “Annie Get Your Gun.”

Community theater (actually theater of any kind) turns out to be sort of a narcotic.  Once you start, you never want to stop. It attracts certain stereotypical types of people, certain  challenges, and hopeful successes.  Many of these “archetypes” are represented in the cast of this show.

What is it like to be in this sort of enterprise?  Anyone who has ever been seduced by the siren call of the stage will tell you that it is very much like a high school team sport. 

You will likely never become closer to anyone in your life than you will become to these teammates or castmates.  You will share their successes. You will be the sounding board for their tragedies. Some may become romantically involved.  Some may become that Uncle you see at Thanksgiving and that’s too much.  Regardless, these people become kind of a family.

I can tell you there are never enough men in the cast during auditions. A few are natural actors and singers.  They have wanted to perform since they could crawl. They have trained to do this. Other males must be recruited and/or coerced.  Many shows attract people with significant problems. How should they be presented?  Are they problems to be solved or comic relief in the context of the playscript (to be mined)?

Some of the strengths of “Stuff of Dreams” are the big production numbers with good harmonies and great dance sequences choreographed by Kacy Christensen.  Oddly, one of the weaknesses is the size and staging of the ensemble. The sheer mass of people can overwhelm the stage.

Krista Eyler stars in this show within a show as Betsy Ross.  Krista is obviously a talented performer. What gets lost is Krista (Betsy) the actress and her relationship to the production team inside the show. 

I kind of looked for Krista (Betsy’s) opposite number in the play within the play and I must have missed him as an audience member.  His name was John Ross. Betsy’s Father-in-law was a signer of the Declaration of Independence.  Betsy and John ran an upholstery business. They belonged to the same Virginia Church as George Washington. John died in service in 1775.

Widowed Betsy continued their upholstery business.  She may have had a love affair with Carl Von Donop (A Hessian Colonel).  Maybe Betsy could be made into a spy? We do know she remarried to John Ashburn (captured by the British Navy and died in Jail) and John Claypoole (they had five daughters).

I think I would have liked to see more of the Al and Totti story and have seen more of Al (at intervals) and I would have liked to have heard him sing and perhaps had a duet with Totti.

Perhaps they can jointly solve some challenges that surface during the rehearsal process. Al might come home more often.  

I’m put in mind of another show within a show called “Dames At Sea.”  It took some birthing too, but it is now a great musical show.

The playwrights are attempting two plays - one folded over the other.  Both shows must stand on their own. One show is a serious play with a problem to solve.  The other – the Betsy Ross rented script might be more fun and lighter than it currently appears. 

The rehearsal process can illustrate collapse (perhaps laughing at itself), but it must also demonstrate success. Audiences might stay better engaged with some success during rehearsals.

The audience can be part of the parenting team of this brand new, growing theatrical enterprise.  “Stuff of Dreams” is already a great start.

“Camelot” was a four hour opus when it opened for out of town tryouts.  Audience response helped trim it to two and a half hours.  It will be cool to see a baby “Stuff of Dreams” grow up to an adult version of itself.