Considering the state of musical theater these days on Broadway (and hence the regional scene) — where nearly everything seems to be either the revival of an antiquated classic, some jukebox revue, or the stage adaptation of a popular contemporary movie — it’s a real credit to Roswell’s Georgia Ensemble Theatre that the company is taking a chance on an unknown, untested, wholly original piece such as “The Pretty Pants Bandit.”
All the more reason to rejoice is that the brand new show has been scripted and composed by a pair of seasoned Atlanta musical performers, Chase Peacock and Jessica De Maria (who last appeared together, pre-pandemic shutdown, in Horizon’s wonderful “Once”). It’s inspired by a true story about Marie Baker, who made headlines in 1930s Miami for a string of robberies targeting businesses that operated as “fronts” for the local mob, pitting her against hardened criminals and crooked city officials alike, and basically transforming her into a bona fide folk heroine.
Anna Dvorak, innocuous enough as a roller-skating Greek goddess in Out Front’s kitschy “Xanadu” last fall, effectively comes into her own as Marie. Delivering her musical moments with grace and vitality, she also convincingly navigates the dramatic demands of the role, which include routinely expressing semi-anachronistic feminist concepts that seem a good 30 or 40 years ahead of their time here.
Credit: Casey Ford
Credit: Casey Ford
Dvorak’s performance transitions nicely throughout the show, staged by Ensemble artistic director James Donadio. We meet Marie (alias Rose Durante) looking to escape a loveless marriage to an abusive husband, whose menacing, reverberating voice still haunts her (sound effects by Preston Goodson). In her introductory song, “I Was,” she yearns for the freedom to “speak my own voice.” The first act ends with her solo ballad “Bigger,” and the refrain “It’s mine to take, but only if I grab it.”
At the top of the second act, in the follow-up reprise “I Am,” Marie is “finally finding a name, an identity” for herself. “Rose was scared and powerless, but Marie’s not scared of anything,” she notes. And, by the time the show culminates with its big finale, an anthem of sorts called “She Speaks,” the entire Ensemble cast joins in, representing all of the other people whose lives Marie has touched and influenced along the way.
Credit: Casey Ford
Credit: Casey Ford
Among them: a bar owner and nightclub singer (Fenner Eaddy, also coming into his own as a dapper leading man, after a prolific career mainly comprised of secondary or chorus parts); his wise and no-nonsense sister (when the gifted Latrice Pace finally gets her big solo, it’s well worth the wait); the plucky young woman (Megan Zhang) who’s reporting Marie’s exploits for the local paper; and a trio of misfits Marie enlists as her “posse” of avenging accomplices (Jordan Patrick, Sebastian Trevino and Skyler Brown, whose engaging group number “Big Boy Dreams” is another highlight).
In all, Peacock and De Maria’s score features 20 or so generally catchy pop-rock tunes — Dvorak’s “To Ever Do It,” Eaddy’s “Femme Fatale,” their duets “Make It Beautiful” and “Confession”, their song with that posse (“It’s Criminal”), and her duet with Zhang (“Front Page News”) also stand out — under the music direction of Alli Reinhardt, conducting a seven-piece band. The lively choreography of Kari Twyman is ably executed by a company of 10 dancers.
The stylish period costumes are by Alan Yeong. Other members of director Donadio’s design team are Kat Conley (set) and D. Connor McVey (lighting). Chris Damiano and Dan Ford round out the cast as the requisite heavies of the story.
Credit: Casey Ford
Credit: Casey Ford
“The Pretty Pants Bandit” might not rival the works of, say, Stephen Sondheim or Andrew Lloyd Webber, but it’s still unlike anything we’ve ever seen before in the literal sense that the homegrown musical is being produced and presented for the very first time, and we’re among its very first audiences. In more ways than one, that rocks, indeed.
THEATER REVIEW
“The Pretty Pants Bandit”
Through April 17. 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays; 8 p.m. Thursdays-Fridays; 4 and 8 p.m. Saturdays; 2:30 p.m. Sundays. $39-$56. Georgia Ensemble Theatre at Roswell Cultural Arts Center, 950 Forrest St., Roswell. 770-641-1260, www.get.org.
Bottom line: Catchy songs bolster a new, locally written premiere.
