A Midlife Crisis Never Sounded So Good: The Kids Left... The Review

The Kids Left, The Dog Died,
Now What?

TBG Theatre

What do you do when your kids have married off, the family pet has gone to the great big backyard in the sky? Runaway with the pool man? Maybe join a gym? Or write a musical? writing a musical is exactly what Carol Lonner did when her kids left and the dog died.
Lonner returns to NYMF this year with a musical review about twenty out of seventy-eight million baby boomers in America dealing with their coming of "middle" age in the twenty-first century. So what we have here are twenty geriatrics shuffling around recanting all of their misadventures and missed opportunities? No, they're not twenty geriatrics singing about bowel movements or false teeth - believe me I was afraid of that - but five vibrant performers in their prime of their lives. Lonner, with her recently educated view on this particular topic - she just turned thirty-nine this year, again - crafts a night of musical tenderness that both baby boomers and their children can relate to.
From the topics of grandchildren and why grandparents love and abhor them in the same breath, to the need to reconnect with another person, late in life, after the passing or leaving of a partner, every aspect of the mid life, empty nest syndrome is covered. These five actors brought to life my parents and their friends. Bravo for Ms. Lonner and the creative team of The Kids Left, The Dog Died, Now What... for creating a night of theatre that speaks to a wide range of audiences.
Now, as much as I have bashed niche theatre for its exclusivity, yet here I'm advocating it as a means of improvement for Ms. Lonner and her as is wonderful show. Maybe not niche, but a leaner casting. The men of the show is it's weak spot. They are continually being out done by their female counter parts . It's not that the men's performances are off, but that their characters are not that developed. Ms. Lonner has a personal connection to the plight of her dramatis personae, and her view on her men folk is not quite as developed. This is not a slight, but advice to make the show more solid than it already is. Had the show been a two hander about women going through their golden years, helmed by Mary Jo McConnell and Marsha Mercantan, the show could have been a lot stronger. Ms. Lonner's attuned observations about the female sect of the baby boomers could have moved the show by itself (this could just be my own personal relationship with my mother, but I think not).
When leaving the TBG Theatre Ms. Lonner sends you out warmed, with a stirring to call your mom and dad, just to say "I love you", and pester them, as much as they pester you. The Kids Left, The Dog Died... is one of those shows that sticks with you, not because its changing the face of musical theatre, but because it goes at the heart strings with a giant bow and plays you for all your worth. The funny thing is that you go along with it, enjoying each pluck from Ms. Lonner, and doing the "Casserole Roll" all the way home.

Step In, Step Out, Step Up

STEP
45th Street Theatre

Whether we like it or not a new brand of theatre choreography is making its way to the stage, and it is not holding back.
Step, one of the 34 new musicals at NYMF this year, is an amalgamation of storytelling and urban dance rhythms. What Maxine Lyle (choreographer) and the Soul Steppers have done is take a form of dance, that is becoming ever more popular in black universities across the country, and made an attempt of turning that into a two hour performance piece. Step has to two major flaws in it's conception and execution:
1.) It plays not to a general mass appeal, but to a sect of the population. The creative team has tried to make a political and social statement with this show, that fails to reach anyone but the choir. This is a problem with niche theatre, they try to educate people outside of the niche but end up educating only those inside that niche. I know that step is not a mainstream form of dance, but if your message is meant for the masses, I hate to say it, but you are forced to play to the masses. A show like Step cannot stay afloat just by niche appeal, and if the show can't stay open, then there is no message to get across.
What message is this show trying to get across?
I found myself asking the same question. For a moment it seemed like a sermon about the oppression of blacks, then it sounded like an education on the ways of stepping, then on to the origins of the style, then to why people step in general. I'm still not sure, sitting here thinking back on it, not that it matters, really, the meaning and message lies in the audiences perception, and that can vary. But, to me, coming out of that theatre I wasn't really quite sure what the was trying to say to me in particular.
2.) Step is slightly self indulgent. This ties into the niche problems that the show is having. Mixing group routines with solo performances, there was rarely any, with the exception of one or two pieces, that stood apart from each other. What I'm saying is that a step routine, while fun and exciting for five minutes, doesn't necessarily translate well into an hour and a half production, even when there is spoken dialogue and a few songs thrown in for good measure. Step doesn't come off as a dance form that is vast in it's movements, so by minute forty five it seemed as though we were watching the same routine again and again.
I'd also like to comment on the fact that a show that is dance oriented does not constitute a musical. Step falls into a category with Contact. While contact is a cohesive unit, that pulls the audience along through dialogue and a through plot line, it is not what I would consider a musical, same goes for Step.
Back to my first statement, the dance form of step, as well as hip-hop and other urban dance, is a groundbreaking form of choreography, that is showing up on the Great White Way, even as I type this. Modern dance and it's influence can be seen in Legally Blonde for instance. Like I said before, this is happening whether we like it or not, and its not such a bad thing either. With every generation there come a new breed of dance and a new style. What Step has done is bring another type of dance onto the musical stage. Where this show has failed others can build upon. While Step is in itself not a show of note, what it tried to do for the art of dance is commendable.