How To Marry a Divorced Man
Florida Festival of New Musicals
Book & Lyrics by Bryan D. Leys
Music by Clare Cooper
Directed by Michael Edwards
Musical Direction by Chris Leavy
Starring Christine Brandt and Zach Nadolski
These comments are based on a developmental reading. The final script may be significantly different.
What makes a good scary movie? A series of small mistakes that adds up to one big one. That’s also how this slick comedy operates: Layla Diamond (Brandt) may have found Mr. Right in Bo (Nadolski). But she’s been burnt before, so she does her due diligence. Poking around a bit leads her to his ex, perky Glinda (Laura Titus) and her used clothing store. Layla passes herself off as a stranger until Bo appears, and as her lies pile deeper and deeper as the comedy builds. There’s flash backs to the days of classic rock (in this case 1980’s metal and pop), and we hear enough old folks pop culture connections to keep the story real. When we stopped this evening’s partial reading, Layla is buried under used clothing and retrying to dodge her own machinations. It’s a clash of third generation flower children and experimental heavy metal opera, and a strong contender for a full production in the next few seasons.
