Robert Towers, Luke Wall, Brooke Moltrum and Elise Dewsberry (Photo by Rob Sawduski)
Reviewed by Dana Martin
Hudson Theatre
Through September 14
Let’s Write a Musical, book by Elizabeth Copland and Lawrie Chiaro; music and lyrics by Lawrie Chiaro, uses musical theater as an escape from a brutal cancer battle. The new musical leans heavily on silly musical theater tropes but ultimately comes up short on examining a couple in the fight of their life.
Longtime married couple Lucy (Elise Dewsberry) and David Hamilton (David Pevsner) have just received devastating news: David has cancer. Stage 4, metastasized, with no possible cure. In the wake of this news, they quickly resolve to maintain a positive outlook. David conceives a plan with Lucy to co-write the origin story of their relationship into a musical. It is a love-letter, a swan song, and a form of escapism for the grieving couple.
The story broadly maps the milestones of David’s illness: The chemo works, until it doesn’t. He has surgery which is unsuccessful. He grows weaker and is denied treatment from his insurance provider. Finally hospice, then death. Lucy is left alone, with memory of him and, of course, their musical; a boy-meets-girl, boy-loses-girl, boy-gets-girl, comedy of errors that is set in the bygone era of the 1950’s.
Best friends Shirley (Aryiel Hartman) and Olive (Brooke Moltrum) work at a local diner. Work pals Gus (Spencer Frankeberger) and Blake (Luke Wall) work at the local paper down the street. One day, Blake drops into the diner for a cup of coffee and instead finds himself in love with Olive. After their first date, their well-intentioned co-workers interfere and silliness ensues. All’s well that ends well and both duos end up coupled.
The storylines do little to support or reinforce one another. The internal musical is insular and complete, much more developed than the main storyline. We never see David and Lucy’s relationship evolve; they don’t grow or learn anything new. We only skim the surface of who these characters are beyond expositional information, let alone perceive how they cope with loss. Therefore play’s most emotional moments are distilled.
Director John Coppola is obviously adept at staging musical theater; his choreography is crisp, fun, and suits the musical style and looks great on the actors. But the play’s more serious moments are barreled through with little regard to nuance; the subject matter (and feelings surrounding it) aren’t afforded time or space to land — with the characters or the audience. The two stories are also kept physically separated: the musical ensemble uses the stage for their robust choreography while David and Lucy remain on the precarious, cramped second level of the playing space where they can do little more that perch. Matt Richter’s lighting design and Rob Sanduski’s costumes adequately support the story. Music Director Ron Barnett gets a lovely, full sound out of the ensemble.
Elise Dewsberry’s Lucy finds solid vocals and a stoic persona. David Pevsner’s David finds little authentic emotional connection to his circumstances. Brooke Moltrum’s Olive is a quick-witted young lady with a robust belt; every action is presented with overt musical theater pzazz. Aryiel Hartman’s Shirley serves up brass wit and sass and Spencer Frankeberger’s Gus is a supporting character with a brash, larger-than-life presence. Luke Wall’s Blake is silly and sweet.
Let’s Write a Musical is play within a play that finds a couple navigating the stages of grief by escaping into a zany, lighthearted musical comedy about two young couples discovering love. The seriousness of their circumstance is obscured by a saccharine-sweet, sunny, wholesome world where there’s no hint of a present reality that is just too brutal to bear. But that is, in fact, the whole point. Cancer is hell.
Hudson Theatre, 6539 Santa Monica Boulevard, Hollywood; Fri.-Sat., 8 pm; Sun., 7 pm; thru Sept. 14. https://www.griefdialogues.com/lets-write-a-musical/. Running time: one hour with no intermission.
