Calvin Berger
Reviewed by Amanda L. Andrei
The Colony Theatre Company
Through March 26
RECOMMENDED
Oh Calvin Berger, sweet Calvin Berger, sweet and witty Calvin Berger in your last year of high school, pining for the most beautiful girl in school while anxiously saving cash for a nose job in a Mr. Potato Head doll. How will you ever deal with your unrequited love and body negativity, not to mention your oblivion of your best friend’s attraction to you and your crush’s interest in the cute new student transfer?
How about through song?
Directed by Richard Israel and with book, music, and lyrics by Barry Wyner, Calvin Berger is a light-hearted musical loosely based on French dramatist Edmond Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac, in which a 17th century Parisian nobleman, deeply insecure about his perceived large nose, attempts to woo his love interest by sending romantic poetry through his handsome yet inarticulate rival. Wyner’s wisecracking adaptation keeps much of the same storyline, recasting Cyrano as the sharply intelligent Calvin (Frankie A. Rodriguez), the love interest Roxane as the tender-hearted and gorgeous Rosanna (Jasmine Sharma), the rival Christian as the endearingly daft and innocently optimistic Matt (Jordan Quisno), and Cyrano’s best friend and voice of reason Le Bret to the outwardly cynical yet deeply hopeful and romantic Bret (Corinne Miller).
For the most part, the high schoolers are sweet and wholesome, the music in the five-piece orchestration (directed by Anthony Lucca) contemporary and upbeat. Rosanna’s ardent campaign for “homeless babies” lends comic relief, Matt’s shyness and trust in Calvin’s love note plan creates sympathy for the new student, and Calvin and Bret’s banter make you want to shake the protagonist by the shoulders to clearly see his other half. While the exact melodies may not stick in your head as you depart the theater, each actor’s voice is stunning, with notable moments of Bret belting out “in love” as she spins in a chair (“Don’tcha Think?”), Calvin and Matt’s enthusiastic genre experiments in “We’re The Man!,” and Bret and Rosanna’s penultimate “Calm, Cool and Collected.”
And there are moments that interrupt the supposed wholesomeness of the world, namely well-intentioned yet bawdy jokes and sincere anxiety over body image. This atmosphere gives the world a touch of campiness, as if these teenagers inhabit an alternate high school experience which may feel either uncanny or refreshing. They exist on a deceptively sparse and highly flexible stage (designed by Alex M. Calle), recalling Dutch painter Piet Mondrian’s geometric primary-colored paintings punctuated by projections (designed by Gabrieal Griego), signaling the multitude of settings within the high school and neighborhood as well as the visual presence of social media. The abstract art touch with the virtual mashup further emphasizes the tension between intellect and appearance.
That visual and thematic tension may in part lead to some of the feeling of an alternate world — despite the core theme of dishonest, manipulative communication, the teenagers seem oddly comfortable messaging and confronting each other through phone, text and in-person. It’s worth noting that the musical was written in 2006, right on the edge of social media and its excessive usage becoming associated with younger generations. In many ways, Wyner is wise to keep the story free of specific technological references in favor of building a world that feels more comfortable in its quirkiness, not unlike other classics-to-teen adaptations such as 10 Things I Hate about You and She’s the Man.
And the quirkiness and alternate setting allows the audience to process the deeper angst of the original text and its problematic implications. In today’s conversations about consent and dating responsibly, it is disturbing to see two young men scheming to deceive a young woman into falling in love with them — more so to see someone as brilliant and promising as Calvin to submit to the pangs of desire through manipulation and deceit. I had hoped for more consequences and aftermath for this young man and to hear more from the young women navigating their own feelings of love and romance. At the very least, the story leads to questions about how we manage our own crushes and forlorn desires (and Colony Theatre is well aware of this, considering their art exhibit, Unrequited Love, runs concurrently in their gallery through March 26). The original Cyrano de Bergerac portrayed a clever, insecure man who reaches closure with his beloved after tragedy and many years of silence; Calvin Berger’s shift to a high school setting accelerates the lovelorn process (sans tragedy) while also giving us a chance to reflect on our own responsibilities and actions when it comes to infatuation, longing, and how we treat our perceived beloveds.
The Colony Theatre, 555 N. 3rd St., Burbank; Fri., 8 pm; Sat., 2 pm & 8 pm; Sun., 3 pm (added performances: Thurs., 2/23, 8 pm; student matinees: Thurs., 3/2, 3/9, 3/16 & 3/23, 10 am); through Mar. 26. (818) 558-7000 or colonytheatre.org. Running time: two hours with a 15-minute intermission.
