Horny-the Musical

musicals and operas · westside original works · Ages 12+ · United States of America

world premiere
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Review by CHRISTINE DEITNER

June 07, 2019

What I liked

Hats off to any effort that pokes fun at our culture’s continuing issue with sexual taboo – especially when it comes to women expressing their own desires and doing what they want/can/like/love to achieve their own sexual goals and/or fantasies.

What I didn't like

There’s a general air of confusion, with cast members lingering upstage for most of the production, whether they have a direct role to play in the scene at hand or not. It seems the two men playing backup satyrs were meant to state their lines in unison in what some of us might feel echoes a Greek chorus style of presentation but they were not on the same page. For a show that seems to be focused on liberating women sexually a lot of time is spent focusing our attention on how great or terrible any one of the women on stage looks [hair is awful, breasts are great, etc.] which makes one #MeToo moment [was it meant to be a joke?] fall particularly flat. This feels like a show that could have used a lot more rehearsal and a clearer sense of what it’s all about.

My overall impression

It is always impressive to see any show pull a cast of greater than two people together however here with this production, the show feels under-rehearsed and lacks clarity on every level. The pacing is all over the place and a couple of the poor actors were literally tripping over set pieces, pointing to the suggestion that this might be a half-baked idea. The songs are not catchy, nor are they clearly executed, though it’s clear a few of the cast members have a solid voice.

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