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| The trailer park trio in The Great American Trailer Park Musical (Dan Davidson) |
The Great American
Trailer Park Musical
STAGEright
(at Richard Hugo House)
Through August 29, 2015
STAGEright started out, when they began producing, including
musicals every once in a while. Their recent successes with musicals seem to
have buoyed them to feel like they can really do this thing, and they’re doing them more and more. Given the
feeling of fun and the level of talent in The
Great American Trailer Park Musical, now play through August 29, they’re
correct to do so!
Written by David Nehls and Betsy Kelso, iIt explores the
relationships between the tenants at the Armadillo Acres Trailer Park in
Florida, particularly between Pippi, "the stripper on the run," agoraphobic
Jeannie, and Jeannie's tollbooth-collector husband Norbert. It was performed in
the first annual New York Music Theater Festival in 2004 and Off-Broadway in
2005. It’s apparently a kind of “cult musical.”
Directed by Jay Irwin,
it’s a feel-good, almost-but-not-quite-too-silly musical about trailer park
residents and their woes. There is a Greek-chorus trio who lead things off hysterically:
Loretta Howard, the belting
baby-boomer, Tori Spero Dullenty,
the confident millennial, and Walker
Caplan, the gen-xer who plays a 17-year-old falsely pregnant teen. They
begin with improvisational conversation you should really pay attention to, because
it’s before the official start, and
many audience members don’t have a clue what’s supposed to be happening.
Pippi (Cherisse
Martinelli) is on the run from her ex-boyfriend (Kyle James Traver). She finds a job stripping near the trailer park
and finds housing at the trailer park. So, she’s next door to Jeannie (Margaret Lamb) and Norbert (Casey Raiha) who are almost celebrating
their 20th anniversary. But Jeannie is so agoraphobic, since the
abduction of their infant son, 20 years ago, that neither she nor Norbert are
sure she’ll be able to celebrate by going to the Icecapades.
Norbert hasn’t been “getting any” for years, so it’s not
hard to think he’d find himself drawn to Pippi and things kind of go downhill
from there for him. But it’s a whole lot of fun watching it happen!
One of the things I appreciated more than any other is that
the sound, designed by John Huddlestun,
with music directed by Josh Zimmerman,
was loud enough to hear, but never overpowering! So many times, the band
overpowers the singers! This balance was perfect.
The set design by John
Ambose is quiet ingenious – the trailers open and close for inside viewing
and there is still plenty of room in front of them for dancing. The
choreography by John Huddlestun is simple but funny and appropriate. No need to
overdo it!
Costumes are absolutely spot on for the whole range of
residents, including moments of flashy performance (by Cherelle Ashby and Jonelle
Cornwell) and since I’ve named everyone else, lighting by John Chenault seems just fine, too.
I went hoping I’d be able to laugh a lot and I was right. Do
try to see this, but I’ve heard tickets might be hard to come by! Oops.
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