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Thursday, March 29, 2007
‘Trailer Park Musical’ @ Actor’s Express
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
THEATER REVIEW. Grade: C -
Jeannie’s got agoraphobia so bad she can barely stick her toe outside her trailer. Norbert has a hankering for the pole dancer who’s rented the place next door. Wise-cracking Lin has a husband on Florida’s death row, and cute li’l Pickles is prone to hysterical pregnancies.
Welcome to Armadillo Acres, home of “The Great American Trailer Park Musical,” a place where the ladies sun themselves with tinfoil reflectors, subscribe to Mobile Homes & Gardens, and are well-versed in the joys and heartaches of standing by your man — or, to quote one typically nonsensical gag, your flan.
Composer David Nehls and playwright Betsy Kelso’s double-wide dose of silliness enjoyed a brief off-Broadway run in 2004 and now parks its trash-talking self at Actor’s Express. Sending up everything from big hair and ’80s kitsch to Jerry Springer and roadkill, the relentlessly tasteless schlock-rock musical manages to get by on its own empty-calorie humor and occasional kernel of cornball truth. It even has a few pretty good songs.
Alas, director Freddie Ashley’s production seems to run out of gas before it even gets out of the parking lot. Just because “Trailer Park Musical” builds its velocity from the cheap and cheesy doesn’t mean its producers have to prop up the jalopy with a pre-recorded soundtrack or fill up the ensemble with low-rev singers. After a year of mostly top-notch endeavors, this low-budget clunker disappoints.
As the hopelessly house-bound Jeannie, Wendy Melkonian leads the cast with solid singing and a memorably woozy comic scene involving beer cans and a PAM spray can. Atlanta favorite Libby Whittemore is fun to watch but seems vaguely tired in the secondary role as Betty, the first lady of Armadillo Acres. Newcomer Claci Miller appears to be running on autopilot at first, but she ultimately nails the part of stripper-on-the-run Pippi.
If Dolph Amick is a letdown as Jeannie’s husband, Norbert, it’s probably because the hard-working actor is not the strongest singer in the world. And while Sharon Zoe Litzky (Pickles) and Jeremy Aggers (Duke) turn in wholly likable performances, Christy Baggett (Lin) seems to rely too much on her one-sided smirk.
With its unapologetic stinkiness, garish design (by Jonathan Williamson) and “Ugly Betty” fashion sense (by Jamie Bullins), “Trailer Park” will probably build a fan base in the same happy campers who’ve supported “Della’s Diner” and “Peachtree Battle” all these years.
These days, it’s not necessary for musical entertainment to have a highfalutin recipe. (Just look at “Sister Act” and “High School Musical.”) You just don’t want to get sloppy with the execution, or use cheap ingredients. Otherwise you might end up like Duke after he discovers Costco.
