"Love in the Time of Swine Flu," the original cabaret put on by UMD's student run Stage II program that opened at the Duluth Play Ground Thursday night, is a confounding mix of good singing and counterproductive staging.
I have seen most of the cabarets put on by UMD students in the past several years and this is the first one since "Cell Block Tango" to attempt a narrative framework for the songs, revolving around two couples in and out of love. The songs end up being more contemporary than Broadway, mixing Alanis Morissette, Destiny's Child and Usher, with some George Gershwin and "Cabaret."
The show has a strong beginning as Emily Crom sings a lovely "Someone to Watch Over Me," and Dan Beckmann does a delightful distaff cover of "Maybe This Time." But those first two numbers hint at something that overwhelms most of this show, namely that director Eleyna Lai and her cast have an impulse to constantly upstage the songs being sung. The results are more consistent distraction than comedic deconstruction.
Every time I would start to get into a song, such as Steven Douglas' "I'm Your Man" or Johanna Dittus' "That's It, I Quit, I'm Moving On," the annoying distractions kept coming into play. Only Kinsey Diment's "You Oughta Know" diatribe compelled complete attention.
Even the big "Cell Block Tango" number that ends the first act had unnecessary one-liners thrown into it. The second act begins with what could have been a number wrought with comic irony that instead descended, literally, into distracting slapstick, followed by an awkward lampoon of "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?"
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When Andrea Schmidt belts out a heartfelt version of Helen Reddy's "50 Percent," with minimum interruption, it was a highlight of the evening. But then Jake Neuman shows up with the guys to woo back his girl with "I'll Be There," the audience assumes that this song will also devolve into just another joke, and they are proven right. Consequently, when this cabaret purports to find its heart at the end, I could not really buy it.
I have no problem with the program's set list being a tad disingenuous at times to set up the shock and surprise of a trio of songs, but one of the best songs of the night, "At Last," and its singers unfortunately was omitted entirely. However, the "Finale" is hysterically effective because the cast fully commits to the simple (albeit borrowed) routine without staging any distractions.
The other complaint is that the UMD theatre students in attendance were constantly laughing more at who was talking rather than necessarily at what they were saying. It is like watching the second season of a sitcom you have never seen and wondering why the audience is laughing because you do not get the jokes.
With vocal and comedic talent like this, less would be more. Less would be better.
LAWRANCE BERNABO once auditioned for "Cabaret," sang Tom Lehrer's "I Hold Your Hand in Mine," and did not a get a part.
