Jim Blanchette, Nina Herzog, Maggie Howell, and Monika Peña. (Photo by Sam Wilkerson)
Reviewed by Joel Beers
Irvine Theatre Company
Through August 10
My Unauthorized Hallmark Movie Musical is roughly 70 minutes of extra sharp cheese — a completely irony-free, 100 percent sincere valentine to Hallmark Channel romantic comedies and their devoted fans. The story revolves around a woman who loves the predictable storylines, feel-good romantic plots, stock characters, and happy endings so much that she decides to write a script herself.
But she’s no seasoned pro, so she struggles with writer’s block and, worse, discovers that her characters have a tendency to write their own story while she’s stuck. This leads them into precarious predicaments though not so precarious that there’s ever any doubt that something dire might happen. Because it’s a Hallmark movie script, there’s never a moment when the audience isn’t convinced she’ll finish the script and that true love will triumph in the end.
It’s a harmless, innocuous show that blends film and live theater, featuring a thoroughly likable lead actor (Eloise Coopersmith, who also wrote the book and lyrics with Roxanne Ward writing the music) and some very talented performers in the film portions. There’s no reason not to leave the theater with at least a little smile.
Other than the possible fact that your teeth are clenched in rage and all you can think about is grabbing the play by the scruff of its neck, stuffing it in a cage, grabbing a stick, and prodding at its eyes.
Two things entice the inner sadist: The first is the heavy reliance on pre-recorded footage, which is interesting in that our sole live actor must interact with one of three monitors on stage at any given time. But having only one actor on stage removes much of the inherent danger of live theater — actors responding to each other, and to the audience, in real-time. In a play where there are no dramatic stakes to begin with, it makes the whole experience feel even less compelling.
The second flaw is evening’s unrelenting cheerfulness and niceness. While the show aims to be a loving homage to Hallmark romantic comedies, its constant positivity is overwhelming and the lack of conflict further lowers the stakes. There’s certainly nothing wrong with writing a piece that is cheerful and optimistic, but I’m not sure there is anything particularly right about it either.
The show is being done where the two-year-old Irvine Community Theater is currently located, which is a non-denominational church in the Irvine Business Complex. But it’s a touring show so it’s not accurate to call this is an ICT production,
However, ICT does get the opportunity to implement, in some fashion, one of artistic director David Ihrig’s stated goals: integrate technology into theater productions to make them more immersive.
It does that by offering audience members who want to pay a few bucks extra, and who have an iPhone, the opportunity to participate in a pre-show and post-show mingling and gathering, Dr. Love’s Rom-Com Experience. Dr. Love is Dr. Paul J. Zack, an academic superstar among neuroscientists, who has developed an app that tracks user’s mental and emotional fitness, and uses an algorithm to predict people’s combability with each other.
Irvine Theatre Co., Canvas, 17332 Von Karman Avenue #115, Irvine. Fri.-Sat., 7:30 pm, Sat., 2:30 pm; thru Aug. 10. www.IrvineTheater.com. Running time: 70 minutes with no intermission
