BWW Reviews: ARE YOU THERE GOD? IT'S ME, KAREN CARPENTER

ARE YOU THERE, GOD? IT'S ME, KAREN CARPENTER

StageRight Theatre Company at Hugo House

For those unfamiliar with 1970s pop culture, Judy Blume might not be a familiar name...for the rest of us, she was (and still is!) a popular novelist for young adults, right up there with S.E. Hinton (The Outsiders) and Glendon Swarthout (Bless The Beasts & Children). Among her most recognizable titles are Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Blubber, and It's Not The End of the World. She scandalized her fan base in 1978 with the publication of her first adult novel, Wifey, but that's another story.

Playwright Dane Whitlock is quite fond of popular culture to the point of obsession (nay, mania!), having created shows like Little House on the Prairie-oke and I Totally Know What You Did Last Donna Summer. The names alone hint at the delightfully demented Cuisinart intellect behind StageRight's current Seattle premiere, Are You There God? It's Me, Karen Carpenter.

Using Blume's 1970 novel Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret and the music of The Carpenters , Whitlock has crafted a phantasmagorical pastiche of (yep, you guessed it!) pop culture. Unlike Blume's novel which focuses largely on Margaret Simon's religious identity crisis (Christian mother, Jewish father), Whitlock gleefully focuses on the more awkward and embarrassing aspects of young adulthood also featured in the book. The results are uproarious and guaranteed to get chuckles, if not outright guffaws. It would be a disservice to the fun of the piece if I described the plot in detail, so I will instead offer a laundry list of what audiences will encounter:

Barbie dolls, adolescent angst, secret clubs, first bras, bust exercises, teen burlesque, a human Star of David, basement parties, bathroom kissing, sexual awakenings, lies and betrayal, menstruation, abject embarrassment, belted sanitary napkins, dancing unicorns, America's Sweetheart, a chorus of singing feminine hygiene products, and all set to the music of The Carpenters. INTRIGUED? You should be! From its cheeky subtitle (A Period Piece) to its utilitarian set (The Partridge Family, The Brady Bunch and Laugh-In collide) it's an out-of-control evening of theater. Although I do acknowledge that over-the-top lampoon humor might not be everyone's cup of tea, I found this show to be nothing short of hilarious.

Director Brendan Mack has assembled an amazing cast who tear fearlessly into the material, munching happily on the scenery rather than outright chewing it, and they are quite obviously having as much fun as the audience watching them.

Emily Rose Frasca is empathetically awkward as central character Margaret Simon, bringing all the familiar embarrassments of adolescence flooding back to our collective consciousness. Her nonverbal reactions to situations are hysterical, and she does a fine job emulating the dulcet tones of Karen Carpenter in her musical numbers which include "Close To You" and "Only Yesterday," among others.

As bespectacled frien-emy Nancy, Olivia Lee is a scene-stealer. From her facial expressions to her body language, she is the comic standout of the show and equally adept at her Carpenters renditions, particularly "There's A Kind Of Hush" (which is actually a Herman's Hermits tune), but more than likely you'll be distracted from her singing by what's happening on stage.

Secret club members Gretchen and Janie (Abbey Roads and Shermona Mitchell) are fabulously funny. From Gretchen's appetite and physical discomfort with tight bras to Janie's sly methods in getting girls to do exactly what she wants them to, they are comic perfection.

Cedric Wright is endearing as love-interest Moose and sings "Superstar" with all the Sturm & Drang of adolescence. He is also hilarious as Norman Fishbein, a boy with a theriouth thpeech impediment in Margaret's class who invites EVERYONE over for a Hannukah/birthday celebration.

Stephanie Graham is riotous in multiple roles including a rather masculine girl's ping pong team coach, an over-developed classmate of Margaret's, and an angelic Karen Carpenter (one of the best scenes in the show).

Jay Irwin embodies the maternal characters of the piece, scoring laughs as Margaret's Jekyll & Hyde image-conscious mom...Norman Fishbein's high-strung and excitable mother...and Nancy's overly-protective mom.

Michelle Flowers has a field day playing several men including Margaret's dad and a predatory young teacher, and Emily Feliciano completes the impressive cast as Nancy's geeky brother Evan, poster-boy classmate Phillip Leroy (think Leif Garrett or Shaun Cassidy) and Janie's mom.

Music direction by Joshua Zimmerman is solid, though not always supported technically as there were several microphone issues throughout the performance...I trust this will be resolved for the rest of the run. Choreography by Elizabeth Richmond Posluns was eye-catching and entertaining. Costumes by Cherelle and Jonelle Ashby were period-appropriate (Get it? Sorry, couldn't resist!) with embarrassingly accurate hairstyles to match. Brandon Estrella's set and John Huddlestun's light design were exactly what they should be in supporting the show...fun and focused.

Overall, one of the more amusing evenings of theater I've had the pleasure of experiencing in some time...if you're in need of a good laugh, don't miss it!

ARE YOU THERE GOD? IT'S ME KAREN CARPENTER plays Thursday through Saturday June 12 - 27 at 7:30 p.m. Hugo House Theater, tickets available through Brown Paper Tickets (www.brownpapertickets.com).

Photo credit: Robert Snell

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