NEW MUSICAL 'GIRLFRIEND:' HOW SWEET IT IS
Boy Meets Boy,
Falls in Love
By Carol Benet
artssf.com, the independent observer of San Francisco Bay Area theater
Weeks starting May 5, 2010
Vol.
12, No. 11
BERKELEY---The
arts organizations are striving to bring in a younger crowd.. The
Berkeley
Rep is no exception. In the fall they produced “American Idiot,”
based on a rock album. That show went on to Broadway to much
acclaim.
And currently
BRT is producing the world premiere of “Girlfriend,”
written by Todd Almond and based
on the playwright's favorite pop album by the 1990's pop rocker Matthew
Sweet. The show has already been extended to May 16 as the
response is so
positive.
This play
reflects a new world order with altered social
configurations all around us. Although filled with people from
this new
order, the arts often do not talk about the change (and audiences,
outside of a
few theaters, are not subjected to it).
The story is a
switcheroo from the original intent of the
cult-classic album. There has been a gender change and here the
'girlfriends' are now two high school boys who fall in love.
Jason
Hite plays Mike, the handsome prom king jock who is going to the
Unversity of Nebraska on a full scholarship although he hardly needs it
because
his father is a doctor. He even has a girlfriend, albeit by long
distance. His overwhelming bravado turns out to be a sham and he
falls in
love with a classmate, the nerdy and bespectacled Will (Ryder Bach).
Once the
initial shock wears off about the switcheroo taking
place, the audience finds the play to be charming and filled with
pleasant
music that only at times is too loo lpud for my ears. But I carry
earplugs in my purse at all times to be able to exist in the modern,
high-volume world. I didn't have to use them the entire play as I
did in "American
Idiot" where the theater provided earplugs at the entrance. Julie
Wolf's
four-woman band, a talented group,<> is on
stage at all times, but they remain in the background and
never interact with the two actors.
And, like musicals,
"Girlfriend" has a simple plot.
Boy meets boy; boy falls in love with boy. The set-up is a little
dated
as far as research into why someone becomes a homosexual. The
theory that
a domineering father with very high expectations of a son is the is the
reason
that the son comes out of the closet has gone out of favor. Here
the
doctor father indeed pushed his son to excel and to be a manly boy (not
a girly
boy as he turns out). We never see the father, but hear about his
responses to the situation. The play is set in the early 90s so
it is a
period piece for which the boys' hairstyles are
perfect. Yet
the play has a very contemporary feel, with the many gender questions
raised.
Sadness sets in when the
summer of love ends and Mike is
packed off to college while Will stays behind. But the plot does
not end
there and I will stay mum so not to spoil it.
“Girlfriend”
is an honest and delightful work and thanks to
the director Les Waters, the sex has been kept off the stage.
Instead,
there are many awkward and embarassing moments between the two young
men.
(Ed. note: This show is
unrelated to the 1926 Rodgers-and-Hart Broadway musical hit, "The Girl
Friend," which ran for 301 performances that year and produced the
memorable song "Blue Room.")
“Girlfriend,” a modern pop musical,
running until May 16 at the Berkeley Repertory
Theatre. For info: (510) 647-2949 or go online.
#
© Carol Benet 2010
Carol Benet is a regular theater reviewer for artssf.com.
These critiques appearing weekly (or sometimes semi-weekly, but never
weakly)focus
on theater, dance and new musical creativity in performance, with
forays
into recordings by local artists, and a few departures into books (by
authors
of the region)as well.
#
Return to main menu