Housewife ’52

Reviewed by Julia Stier

Hollywood Fringe

Through June 25

RECOMMENDED

How to describe Housewife ’52? Part musical, part physical theater, it is at times disorienting, yet wholly and completely captivating.

Created by John Wuchte with music direction by Michael Teoli, this highly percussive piece incorporates hypnotic drumming, and precise, almost animalistic choreography, to elevate the woes of the classic 50s housewife – loneliness, neglect, infidelity – to that of a Greek tragedy.

We follow three couples – Judy (Dagney Kerr) and Harold (Daniel Amerman), Dorothy (Danika Masi) and Raymond (Charlie Manoukian), and Nancy (Quincy Lou Huerter) and Arthur (Alexander Aguirre) – and one widow, Helen (Olivia Echegaray).

Judy wants to be touched, held, close to her husband. Dorothy suspects her spouse of cheating. Nancy wants to take night classes. Helen just wants to feel less alone. It’s a battle of the sexes that the women – due to the times and their circumstances – are doomed to lose.

By taking a highly stylized look at the lives of these couples, Housewife ’52, cuts right to the core of their issues. We get a sense of their restlessness, of their frustrations. Huerter as Nancy is especially moving to watch as she struggles to fight for her desire to go back to school. Kerr as Judy enthralls audiences as her sanity slowly unwinds in front of us. And I craved more songs for Masi and Echegaray.

As for the men, they relish in their power. Though there are moments of vulnerability, we are overall able to paint them as the villains. It’s made clear that this show is for the women.

Go into this show knowing it won’t be your typical musical; I was expecting Rodgers & Hammerstein, but what I got was SO much more interesting.

https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/6841. Seventy-five minutes with no intermission.