Review: Theater Bug's 7 WAYS TO SUNDAY

By far, the best and most sensible advice ever given me by someone hoping to help me deal with the loss of a loved one was this: "It gets worse before it gets better." Perhaps not as cheery and rosy as one might expect, it is nonetheless pragmatic and straight-forward - and it prevented me from committing some irrevocable act that would have left broken hearts and defeated spirits in its wake.

That advice - which I've given to countless others suffering from loss since I first realized its potency and truth - plays out onstage in numerous ways in the world premiere run of 7 Ways to Sunday, an emotional and heartfelt musical by longtime collaborators Cori Anne Laemmel and Eric Fritsch playing through February 6 at The Theater Bug, the Nashville home for the training and nurturing of the next generation of extraordinary theater artists.

Dealing with the heretofore difficult to discuss subjects of teenaged depression and suicide, 7 Ways to Sunday opens up a necessary dialogue that is sure to save lives (regardless of how melodramatic that sounds, could one come to any other realization after experiencing the altogether life-changing events depicted in the musical?) thanks to the brutal - yet somehow funny, moving and totally affecting - truths expressed in the latest work from Laemmel, Fritsch and the other artists who call The Theater Bug home.

To be certain, recalling the impact of the opening night performance of 7 Ways to Sunday is as emotionally draining and as genuinely uplifting as that debut showing.

The play itself is a compellingly crafted, beautifully written work of art that is set exquisitely to Fritsch's musical score that is at once new and inventive, yet somehow hauntingly familiar. With a lack of stagey artifice - although make no mistake about it: 7 Ways to Sunday is artfully theatrical - the story of young Sunday Miller (played with stunning alacrity and amazing maturity by Lilla Golgoczy-Toler) and the friends and family who populate her world is brought to life vividly and energetically.

There is perhaps no one more qualified to address the issues herein than Laemmel - in fact, there may be no one besides her who can so effectively delve into the mind of a young person and come out of it with a script that speaks so honestly and movingly about despair and depression, of love and hope, with an expert blending of humor and pathos - and who, time-after-time, brings out the best of her young charges, actors who thrive under her direction and, in the process, deliver some of the finest onstage performances you're likely to see on a Nashville stage.

Golgoczy-Toler's leading performance is nothing short of astonishing and confident. Totally committed to her performance, she embodies Sunday with charm and good humor, eliciting a cerebral and visceral response from her audience as she allows us inside Sunday's creative and clever mind. As the plot develops (charmingly and entertainingly utilizing a type of Groundhog Day repetitiveness that underlies the story's more dramatic and sobering moments), we see the cracks in Sunday's stoic outward personality, thanks in large part to the care with which Laemmel has written the character, but also due to Golgoczy-Toler's sensitive portrayal. She is stunning.

Giving her superb support throughout the musical (which clocks in at less than two hours, in order to deliver its story with greatest impact) by the rest of the cast, which features a deft and seamless blending of younger actors with local stage veterans. Erin Parker is superb as Sunday's devoted mother, displaying a commitment both to her role and to her craft in the process, and she is joined briefly onstage by Tyson Laemmel, effective as her husband. Belmont University student Katie Davis (Megan Murphy Chambers takes on the assignment after the opening night performance) is delightful as Ms. H, Sunday's flighty teacher who shows tremendous depth as the plot progresses to its expected denouement.

However, it's the younger cast members who are perhaps most impressive (but only because most of them are new, fresh faces to us), including Max Komisar, who delivers a remarkably courageous and deeply heartfelt performance as Andrew, the young gay boy whose life is saved by the tumultuous truth on display in Laemmel's script; Tristan Whitney, whose portrayal of Sunday's crush Daniel is expressive and meaningful; Mary Marguerite Hall (who, admittedly, has compiled an impressive theatrical resume in her young life) as Jess, the "perfect girl" in Sunday's class whose lovely demeanor belies the harsh realities of her life; Milo Cunningham and Brooks Bennett as Daniel's pair of loyal BFFs; and Rowan McCoy, cast as Sunday's little sister June (she alternates in the role with Ayla Williams), who is beguilingly and precociously engaging.

They, along with the remaining members of the ensemble, bring Laemmel's stagebound script to life and give it the wings to soar magnificently, relating an impressively evolved story that will leave you thunderstruck by its dramatic impact and with the sheer truth that lives in every word, every song and every performance.

Fritsch's score - which evokes auditory images of Jonathan Larson, Jason Robert Brown and other noteworthy composers of contemporary musical theater - is performed with sharp focus by the six-member band of players, with Laura Matula's superb direction of the show's voices resulting in some of the finest harmonies you will ever hear onstage, performed with all the intensity one could ever hope to witness.

Mitch White's set design, which is both simple and wildly imaginative, provides an ideal backdrop for the story to be told with grace, while Marc Lucuesta's sound design is among the best we've experience in a local theater (if you've followed my reviews over the years, you will realize just how amazing that may be) and Jeri Meador's costumes clothe her cast perfectly.

At the start of the opening night performance, Laemmel announced that 7 Ways to Sunday will be held over for two more performances next week. So, may I offer some advice: Don't miss this groundbreaking show, filled to the brim with startling performances, an outstanding score and a story that will long live on in your heart with its ultimate message of everlasting love and undying hope.

• 7 Ways to Sunday. Book and lyrics by Cori Anne Laemmel. Music by Eric Fritsch. Directed by Cori Laemmel, with music direction by Eric Fritsch and choreography by Casey Hebbel. Presented in its world premiere production by The Theater Bug, 4809 Gallatin Pike, Nashville. Presented in partnership with The Tennessee Suicide Prevention Network. Through February 6. Running time (2 hours, with one 15-minute intermission). For details, go to www.thetheaterbug.org

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