Long Story Short
Brendan Milburn and Valerie Vigoda's musical, about 50 years in the off-and-on love between Hope and Charles, recalls Jones and Schmidt's I Do! I Do! a lot. It also borrows from Craig Lucas's magic realism. To anyone familiar with its antecendents, Long Story has a riding on coattails quality. That said, it's a charmer. At almost no point are Hope and Charles on the same page (or even the same bookstore). One member of the interracial couple's running full speed while the other's gearing down. Some of the liveliest songs, like "Unpacking the Suitcase" and "We Should Get Married," play in their conflicting expectations. Melody Butiu and Robert Brewer are well cast for roles that require strong singing and acting skills. They meld with Mark Danisofsky's five-piece band (Diana Elledge's cello casts an elegiac patine over Victoria Petrovich's one-room set). Long Story could have an extended life. But the relentless pace works against it, since every scene unfolds the same way, which takes a here-we-go-again toll in the 138-minute one-act. The spunky, thought-provoking musical might improve if the authors shortened Long Story by two scenes.
Worth a try.
When
Ongoing until Sunday, November 1, 2009
Hours
| Sundays, 2pm & 7pm |
| Tuesdays, 7pm |
| Wednesdays, 7pm |
| Thursdays, 8pm |
| Fridays, 8pm |
| Saturdays, 2pm & 8pm |