What I liked
This is easily one of the highest budget fringe shows I’ve ever seen. Backup dancers, a full orchestra and a huge cast: this play had everything. Shoutout Phil for being an incredible conductor. Everybody in the orchestra was amazing. Bri on keyboard, Ioana on violin, Andres on drums and of course all the singers. This really was an album in play format and i loved the execution of it.
The story itself was also interesting. There moments that were shocking and moments that were funny. This was a 2hr production but genuinely felt alot shorter. Because ultimately there’s alot of scenes and alot to unpack with the reoccurring trauma that is Chris’s existence. I love the scene with his father in the beginning, that was hilarious and poignant. Love seeing progressive black parents who accept their queer son. I wish there was more of that: just more moments in the play without the music that were devoted to characters talking and expressing themselves. The side characters were also cool, felt like real friends.
While this is clearly a first draft, it’s a very powerful exhibition on the trauma that comes from relationships and how we humans deal with our inherent need to find love / safety.
What I didn't like
I wont go over the sound issues because frankly those are easy fixes and i understand sometimes things happen.
I will however go over the story:
Chris is valid in his pain and im glad he created a platform for himself to express his trauma. However, there was simply not enough dialogue or humanity given to each character in the play. And that made it extremely frustrating because there is a genuinely powerful story here to be told. Scarlet, the lead, is a caricature of a bipolar ex who is given no authority or any redeeming qualities beyond maybe sex appeal. Chris is a black man in America wrestling with the death of his father and loving a girl who is hot/cold with him. That should be the focus of the story and that’s where the bulk of the dialogue Should be devoted to. But it’s not. Instead the bulk of this play is simply the music. Which is again, nothing short of fantastic. However, i cant help but feel that behind all the fabulous rhythms and charismatic dancers, there is a man hiding from accountability and instead of looking inwards blame his exes for not giving him the love he so desperately needs to find for himself.
Scarlet may not have been perfect, but it’s too one sided to really say she’s in the wrong. Relationships are a 2-way streak and as evident by the final scene with Matt, Chris’s character has no interest in growth or changing their patterns.
My overall impression
A powerful 2hr big budget production filled with an amazing orchestra, incredible backup dancers, and a full cast of characters all designed around a man’s decision to look for love in everyone but himself. Truly a must-see project and one that hopefully resonates with alot of people.
