Chemcially Imbalanced Comedy’s Blog

By Anthony Ellison

This 1992 chamber-musical version of Arthur Kopit’s 1978 play, about an elderly aphasic woman, Emily, is an uneasy mix of Hallmark TV movie and solipsistic new age recitative on illness and death. Emily sings her way through most of the scenes, and though the music–by Jeffrey Lunden, with lyrics by Arthur Perlman–can be intense and stirring, its progression from dissonance to melody as Emily’s health improves is predictable. Director Mark Lococo actually makes Apple Tree’s problematic in-the-o blong space work to his advantage, Mary Ernster gives a tour-de-force performance as Emily, and the small supporting cast sure-handedly delivers the comic relief. But Emily never truly soars, mired as she is in her own cliches and the generic characters and ideas surrounding her. –Laura Molzahn Chicago Reader

I’m not sure it’s fair to consider the perspective of Laura Maolzahn’s recent review of Wings: The Musical. She’s a deadly double threat: #1. She is a psychic. She saw right through the music that paralleled the health and demise of “Emily”. Come on, Jeffrey Lunden. Everyone knows music needs to clash with the mood of the play and stay unpredictable when you know that psychics are going to be in the crowd. I suggest scrapping the whole arrangement and replacing it with Boston’s “Foreplay/Long Time”, and pray to the God’s of Accelerated Awareness that she abandons her gift in an overwhelming memory of her very first kiss. To kiss a psychic? There’s a thought. I’d put my money on it, that

Laura has never once closed her eyes during a kiss (Just a side bet).
#2 Her vocabulary is ready for something bigger. She might just feel a little under achieved at the fact that she wastes phrases like “Solipsistic new age recitative” on silly little “chamber-musicals”. Her double threat talents would be better suited in a more intellectual setting …like…um…Presidential eulogy writing, or deceased poets. Then there might be a few brains in the room
suited to really soak up the info.

Join us every Friday for this new satirical series by Sponsored Troupe Member Anthony Ellison. You can see Anthony perform with Counter Productive Lover in our Comedy Showcase. Check www.cicomedy.com for listings

This entry was posted on Friday, March 20th, 2009 at 1:31 pm and is filed under Bad Review. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.