“[Title of Show]” @ Brown Paper Box Co.

Theater Review by Jerald Raymond Pierce, July 24, 2015

Rating 3 Stars Out of 4

(left to right) Matt Frye, Neala Barron, Anna Schutz, and Yando Lopez in Brown Paper Box Co.’s [title of show]. Photo by CB Lindsey.

The concept for [Title of Show] is a simple one: it’s a musical about two guys writing a musical about two guys writing a musical. Simple. The story follows two young New Yorkers, Hunter (Matt Frye) and Jeff (Yando Lopez) as they decide to write a musical and submit it to a musical theatre festival. They bring in their friends Heidi (Anna Schutz) and Susan (Neala Barron) and proceed to chronicle their experiences trying to get their show from festival to workshop all the way up to performing on Broadway. The script has ebbed and flowed for years as Jeff Bowen and Hunter Bell (the writers of the music/lyrics and book respectively) continued to expand the show to add in each new step the play took.

This is a tight script and a very funny and clever musical that—while heavily doused in musical theatre references that may not be easily caught by casual fans—manages to stay very relatable. That begins with the incredible performance by Matt Frye. If the character of Hunter wasn’t written by and about Hunter Bell, I would be tempted to say that this character was written for Frye. Or perhaps he was just born to play it. Either way, his performance is spot on and is the driving force behind this wonderful story. Neala Barron also puts forth a strong performance proving that she has a complete understanding of the role her character plays in the context of the jokes made and the overall story being told.

I wouldn’t say that Schutz and Lopez were weak points by any means, they both are clearly incredibly talented, but they pale next to what Frye and Barron bring to the stage. Though Schutz has a nice voice, her vocal quality doesn’t quite fit into the personality of the attitude-laden Heidi and her performance seemed to be trying to force a heightened character that just came across as false. I will say, though, that her singing “A Way Back to Then” is one of the more beautiful moments of the entire show. Lopez, to the surprise of no one watching this talented bunch, has spectacular control over his singing voice, but he comes across as timid when asked to start songs himself. Once he’s singing with Frye or the entire ensemble, he is fully engaged. I wonder if this is him as an actor or the character that he and director M. William Panek have crafted. Either way, that tepidness carries over into the scenes and rather than it being used as a force for Frye to fight against, it merely becomes a small hurdle for Frye to easily pass by.

For the most part, Panek’s direction has the actors right on track. But the show stumbles a bit when trying to capture the spontaneity of an actor breaking the fourth wall by pausing the show to comment on what is happening or by creating a theatrical convention (like music to show the passing of time) on the fly. Those things are easy to pass over and forgive, but the bigger hindrance to the production was in the last third of the play when things tried to get serious. In the show, Hunter says he doesn’t want his musical to become “donuts for dinner”—meaning he doesn’t want it to feel like that joy you experience while eating donuts for dinner immediately followed by that feeling that you really need some meat, some substance to be able to actually have a satisfying dinner. He didn’t want his show to be all fluff with no depth. The script accomplishes his goal, but the performance wasn’t able to keep up. After going punchline after punchline for forty-five minutes, Panek’s direction loses focus when asked to deal with characters facing deep emotion and strife. Frye’s continuous ability to be present and captivating, along with Barron’s honest portrayal of a woman who isn’t quite ready to give up a day job for a dream help pull the audience through this murky section of the play.

The small section of the show where everyone is asked to lean in and watch these friends who have come so far together start to fall apart is what holds this show back from being the spectacular piece that these performers are capable of. This show—with four chairs for a set, a piano as the only instrumentation, and limited props mostly used for gags—is about the actors; it’s about these people. These four actors (with the talented Justin Harner as Larry at piano) sound gorgeous together under the music direction of T.J. Anderson. While it didn’t quite make it there for me, there’s so much to enjoy here that it wouldn’t surprise me if this show ended up being a lot more than “Nine People’s Favorite Thing”.

Tickets are now on sale for The Brown Paper Box Co.’s Chicago storefront premiere of [title of show], with music and lyrics by Jeff Bowen and book by Hunter Bell. The show will run through August 16, 2015 at Rivendell Theatre (5779 N. Ridge Ave.). For ticketing information and more, visit www.brownpaperbox.org. More information is also available at www.theatreinchicago.com.