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Review: WE'RE GONNA DIE at Wilbury Theatre Group

Review: WE'RE GONNA DIE at Wilbury Theatre Group

Wilbury Theatre production of "We're Gonna Die" offers intruiging memento mori

Part monologue, part musical, Young Jean Lee's "We're Gonna Die" is an unabashedly experimental work, and the production at the Wilbury Theatre is not afraid to take it on its own terms. Those who want to see just how avant the garde can get will find this an enjoyable evening.

The Obie-winning show was originally written by Young Jean Lee as a performance piece, done with their band. The loosely thematic script wanders through monologues about shame, alienation, failed romance, and tragedy, all circling the central, repeated theme of our shared mortality.

Wilbury's production features Helena Tafuri as the singer and monologuist, and she does a fine job at telling the stories with personal conviction and selling the songs which weave in and around them. Tafuri's presence and commitment to the role ground the show. Tafuri is engagingly frank and comes as close to making us care as the script allows as it hops among vignettes during its 60-minute run time.

Behind the monologues and songs are the stage band, featuring Chazzgiovanni, who provides slick backing vocals and synth stylings, Teddy Lytle solidly anchoring the bottom end trading off on bass and drums, and Jose Docen whose understated, spot-on guitar work has to carry the bulk of the melodic line--a challenge he meets admirably. Their garage-band ethos is a good fit with the style of the music and the show, though this reviewer wondered if the effect might have been better with both a bassist and drummer throughout.

Marcel A. Mascaro has directed the work with sensitivity and nice creative touches, with Tafuri using the entire stage and sidling right into the audience at points. The band occasionally slips into the action as a presence in the the singer's stories, which works exceedingly well. And the overall tone Mascaro achieves fits perfectly; we might be in a typical band rehearsal garret (suggested by Al Forgione's delightfully decked out set) eavesdropping on storytelling during a rehearsal.

Alexander P. Sprague deserves a special callout for the lighting design, a mix of effective "traditional" theatrical scene setting and loopy moments when the mirror ball gets a workout and the robotic moving-head spots perched at the front of the stage go gleefully wild.

And, without giving anything away, pay attention to the beach ball.

This is a charming, earnest production. If this sounds like the kind of theatrical experience you enjoy, you'll have a fun evening listening to some songs and thinking about death.

We're Gonna Die, directed by Marcel A. Mascaro, Wilbury Theatre Group. Jan 19-Feb 12. All tickets are "pay what you can" with recommended standard admission $35 and access for all $5. Available at the box office, 475 Valley St. Providence, ​(401) 400-7100, online at https://cloud.broadwayworld.com/rec/ticketclick.cfm?fromlink=2221402®id=79&articlelink=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thewilburygroup.org%2Fwere-gonna-die?utm_source=BWW2022&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=article&utm_content=bottombuybutton1.html. Covid protocol: Masks required.

Photo credit: Erin X. Smithers



Managing Director Amy Gravell  Will Depart the Gamm Photo
The Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre announced that Amy Gravell will be leaving the organization after almost 4 years and three seasons effective this June. Gravell will continue to lead the theater’s operations until that time, after which she will assume her new role as president of St. Mary Academy – Bay View in Riverside, R.I. Gravell is a proud alumna of the all-female, independent Catholic school serving pre-school through grade 12.

THE CHILDREN Closes Gamm Season in April Photo
The Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre (The Gamm) closes its 2022-23 season with The Children, British playwright Lucy Kirkwood’s award-winning and Tony nominated play. A riveting eco-drama infused with dark humor, The Children runs from April 27 to May 14.

Review: WITCH provokes at Burbage Theater Co Photo
What did our critic think of WITCH at Burbage Theater Co? In the world of WITCH - written by rising playwright Jen Silverman - demons are self-proclaimed 'merchants of hope' for people whose desires and fears have been forged by capitalism and patriarchy. Scratch (Zach Gibb) - a 'junior salesman' who believes earnestly in the merit of his profession - has been roaming the dark corners of an historically indeterminate Edmonton, where he's been collecting souls in exchange for wishes. It's easy work until he meets Elizabeth (MJ Daly), the town outcast who leads him to reconsider the value of the souls he takes and the deals he makes in exchange for them. After all, what's a wish worth in a system that confines our imaginations within its walls? And wouldn't a soul outside these walls be more valuable - and dangerous - than anything we could conceive from within them?

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See rehearsal photos of Indecent at Wilbury Theatre Group!


From This Author - John McDaid

John G. McDaid is an award-winning science fiction writer and freelance journalist from Portsmouth, RI. He grew up in NYC, where visits to Broadway sparked a life-long love of theater. He worked bo... (read more about this author)


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