[ssba]
Serial Killer Barbie
Reviewed by Paul Birchall
NoHo Arts Center
Through Dec. 21
RECOMMENDED:
The title of this engaging musical credited to Colette Freedman and Nickella Moschetti suggests that this is going to be a campy tale of cheeseball craziness. That’s kind of a mislabel of Freedman and Moschetti’s offbeat play, though: Yes, there is a murder subplot, but it doesn’t kick in until nearly two thirds of the way through.
In fact, this is a sweet and very funny coming-of-age tale, punctuated with sassy musical numbers and ferocious wit. And, yes, in the end there is a serial killing subplot, when a trio of vicious, villainous high school cheerleaders are dispatched with extreme prejudice.
The musical follows a group of kids as they age from first grade through the end of high school, centering on bright and likable Barbara (Kelley Dorney), who is “sentenced” to be an outsider from her very first day of first grade, when she brings a lame paper bag lunch to school. The school’s most popular girls are, of course The Debbies, a hateful trio who rule the other kids with an iron fist. Barbara equally loathes the girls and dreams of being one of them –- so when she gets a chance to join their number for a high school talent show, she jumps at the opportunity, only to discover that the Debs really do deserve to be killed.
The show, though, is far more of an ensemble piece than this summary suggests, with a cast of unusually charismatic and fresh-faced performers who artfully convey the traumas and travails of childhood and teenage years. In director Ronnie Marmo’s playful staging, which is rich in character-based shtick, the sense of the characters gradual maturing becomes increasingly persuasive, like the familiarity that comes from knowing everyone in your community for years and years.
The show’s sense of humor is also evident in the digressive production sequences, nicely peppy in Anne Marie Osgood’s lively choreography — a crazed musical sequence taking place at the school talent show, for instance, or a number in which the Debbies’ attempts to run for school president are ambushed by Barbara’s best friend Bruce (the charming Alex Robert Holmes). Admittedly, when the murder plot kicks in, it almost feels like an afterthought –- the shift in the play’s tone is a little awkward – but the upbeat cheer of the overall work makes up for it.
Dorney’s mildly priggish yet vulnerable Barbie and Holmes’s genial Bruce are both appealing performances, but the show’s wicked star turns are offered by the diabolical, chillingly believable Debbies (Katy Jacoby as the venomous smart Debbi, Kacey Coppola as the sexy, hateful Debby, and Marti Maley as the ambitious, schemey Debbie). They are the show’s ultimate raison d’etre.
NoHo Arts Center, 11136 Magnolia Blvd, N. Hlywd.; Fri.- Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 7 p.m.; through Dec. 21. www.plays411.com.
