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Love Again
Reviewed by Jessica Salans
The Group Rep
Through June 28
The origin story behind Love Again is fun, though the final product does not enthrall. Created at Theatre West, the company’s late co-founder Betty Garrett decided to change the pace and have her students of the Musical Theatre Workshop perform original one-act musicals, written just for them, by company members. Enlisted in the fold of the eventual five one-acts created, were co-moderator of the company’s writers’ workshop, Doug Harvety, and his long time collaborator Adryan Russ. Together they wrote two one-acts, which were performed in 2006. In 2014, the duo wrote a third to accompany, creating an evening of three musical one-acts, workshopped at The Group Rep in 2014.
In its current, full-stage production, now playing at The Group Rep, an ensemble of 11 begin the show with a chirpy song of “One, two, three”, introducing the performance of three individual stories for the evening. The first has a pair of long-ago lovers reuniting unexpectedly at the Louvre in Paris. The second begins with two lady friends enduring a car accident and then intervening from their coma state to affect and influence the loved ones who visit them. And the third deals with a husband, wife and son deciding how to deal with their fading, elderly parents — by far the strongest and most affecting, with younger actors standing beside their elder counterparts, acting as their former selves. It was touching to see the towering figure of actor Andrew Curtis Stark sending energy to the shrunken man playing his future, longing, self (Lloyd Pedersen). While the ensemble was vocally strong when singing as a unit, they were weaker as soloists — with the exception of delicate, on point vocals from Amy Gillette.
Despite the lovely idea of three individual musical one-acts, Love Again needs more development. The ideas are there, but the book and lyrics could be filled with greater stakes, the music deserves more depth than the campy soundtrack allows, and the design elements- a set which distracts by its gaudy cotton-candy splattered colors, and tacky props – don’t serve the production’s integrity.
The Group Rep at the Lonny Chapman Theatre, 10900 Burbank Blvd, N. Hlywd.; Fri. and Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 p.m.; through June 28; https://www.thegrouprep.com/
