Media
Media Book and Lyric by Tod Kimbro
Music by Todd Kimbro and Jeff Forte
Directed by John DiDonna
Starring John DiDonna, Chris Prueitt, Elizabeth Dean and Mellissa Mason
Empty Spaces Theatre Co(llaboration) and Todd Kimbro
Orlando Shakespeare Theatre, Orlando FL</strong>
This is what the Casey Anthony trial would look like if Tod Kimbro took the time to set it to music. Kimbro’s been writing interesting music and Generation X based theater for a decade or so, and I think he’s finally made the turn from ‘interesting” to “exciting.” In this complex yet accessible story, three family units wrestle with the aftermath of a stolen child. While it takes two hours to work through the details, we never drag or wander, partly due to the solid storytelling and partly due to the well crafted tunes that do what real show tunes must: they propel the characters, whisk over the exposition, and give you a tune or two to remember.
Albert Cutter (Prueitt) and his wife Patricia (Elizabeth Dean) live the D&D Ren Faire life, but cannot conceive. Red neck Bud George (DiDonna) and his intimidated wife Ashley (Mason) drop their three year old off at day care while they compete in a reality show. They win a cool million but lose the child when drunken artist (Adam McCabe) wanders in the wrong door on his way to an AA meeting. Little Chelsea (Mira Strauss) wander out and into the Cutter’s RV and a life of secrecy, constant motion and hair dye. But now that’s water under the bridge; Chelsea is now old enough to miss her baby pictures and challenge the stories she’s heard – were they lost in a fire, or a flash flood? Thanks to the internet the Cutters deception unwinds and there’s a semi happy resolution.
That’s a lot of plot to wend together, but songs like “In Vitro” and “Take Me Back to Believing” keep them all straight. There wasn’t a song listing but even without titles these are all complete songs that are integral to the plot, and Kimbro’s tendency to vamp over missing ideas is nowhere in evidence. Backing the show is a High-def video presentation from McCabe that made up for the minimal set – interlocking picture frames referred to the Artist at work, the ideal of family history as frozen images, and the theatrical experience of peering into another set of lives without a need to offer our stories in exchang. This is superb theater, and this show can go places.
For more information on Empty Spaces Theater Company, visit http://www.emptyspacestheatre.org
