I U We
I U We
By Molly Conole
Directed by Sally MacArthur
Choreography by Talia R. Raymond
Breakthrough Theatre, Winter Park FL</strong>
For a Fringe holdover show, this has a bigger technical cast than Main Stage Shakespeare event. Not all those musicians and technicians listed in the program were crammed into Winter Park’s tiniest theater, there was just a sound track and a simple light plan and six color coded actresses on stage. The show is a musical review and its focus is on the relations between women in the same family. There’s a young mom (Christina Carter) all about cell phones and ballet practice, an older mom (Conole) agonizing over what could have been, a Grandmother (Amy Gifford) whose not against one last fling, two daughters (Amelia Dutton wants the car, Penelope Dutton struggles with the bassoon,) and the piano player (Kathy Slage) just wants to boogie.
There’s 32 numbers here, some good, some still lacking polish. I was fond of “I Get All My Good Ideas in the Shower” (Young Mom) and “Retirement” (Grandma) as well as “Two Ideas Diverged in a Mellow Wood” (Daughter 2). “I’m Just The Piano Player” began well enough but fell in to an awkward and dissonant phase which I’ll optimistically say was planned but not well executed. As the show progressed, the view point shifted from looking ahead to looking behind. Later songs such as ““What Have I Taught Them?’ and “What Do We Tell the Children?” feel into a navel gazing mode, and I would have checked my watch if I still wore one. Fortunately there was a neat, very visual ending, the colored neck scarves each actress wore were woven into a multi-hued rope in an elaborate dance that closed the show. Family friendly but slow in many places, “I U We” has a distinct female view point.
For more information on “I U WE” please visit http://iuwe.me/</em>
For more information, please visit http://www.breakthroughtheatre.com or look them up on Facebook.
