Ask for the Moon, the musical receiving a developmental staging at the Norma Terris Theatre, is problematic at best. It can be a good-natured romp with some funny moments and a marvelous cast. However, the book, written by Tony Award winning Director Darko Tresnjak (A Gentlemen’s Guide to Love and Murder), is awkward and often baffling. He also serves as the lyricist and director of the production.
There are a number of styles and genres the show wants to parody and
directions the musical wants to take. But it all adds up to a
cluttered jumble that makes little sense. This is not to say such a
musical requires a well-crafted libretto, but there needs some semblance
of order. For example, the main set-up to the plot is to bump off an
octogenarian Nazi wife. Fine. But then that undertaking is merely
jettisoned, with no explanation, for a simpler, less satisfying
solution. While on a cruise ship, a disastrous storm is brewing. The
reason for this diversion? Not much except to highlight Philip
Rosenberg’s eye-catching lighting effects and the thunderous claps from
sound designer Jay Hilton. There are also numerous bawdy, lewd references that are inserted for easy laughs.
Ask for the Moon begins in an opulent parlor – one of
Scenic Designer Alexander Dodge’s three sumptuous sets - of Helene
Huber, a widow to a former Nazi commander she despised, who died a year
earlier and left her a fortune in paintings. Her lavish lifestyle, and
inheritance of a treasure trove of artwork, suddenly becomes imperiled
due to a slight case of bigamy. Her husband’s former lawyer, a deranged
Nazi sympathizer (Schroeder Studebaker), delivers the news, gloating
that the dead spouse’s previous wife, is not dead and has just been
released from prison. He will be meeting up with her on a cruise liner,
The Jewel of the Sea. Enter Charlotte St. Clair, the former nurse to
dead husband, who was not kind or proper with his aide. She confesses
to Ms. Hunt she had helped him along in his demise. Impressed, the
former wife recruits her to do the same with wife number one and the newly
minted BFFs are off on their mission.
The cast is game for everything Tresnjak, who directs the show, can
throw at them. The shenanigans and hijinks – primarily scenes with a
set of twin brothers and the expiration of most characters at the end at
the end of the show – can be entertaining. But each character feels
underdeveloped, maybe because the musical is only two hours, which
includes an intermission. This leaves little time for cultivating each
role. Luba Mason projects a stately independence as Helene Hunt. The
Broadway veteran possesses a keen comedic sensibility as she sashays
through the production. Ali Ewoldt is wonderful as Charlotte St. Clair,
imbuing her with an innocent, girl-next-door quality, which masks a
more lethal persona. Both actresses have superb singing voices,
especially Ms. St. Clair. Jamison Stern probably has the best time in
his multiple portrayals of the dastardly lawyer Schroeder Studebaker,
the twin shipboard piano bar singers Grisha and Misha, and Helen’s loyal
stylist, Persimmon De Vol. Alex Dreschke is, well, outstanding as a
dead corpse.
The score, with music by Oran Eldor and lyrics by Tresjnak, is a
mixed assemblage of diverting, yet nondescript songs that spoof such
artists as Gilbert and Sullivan and Rodgers and Hammerstein. The
writing team even throws in a polka number.
One last point is to give a hearty acknowledgement to Simple
Mischief Studio for their design of a pet, iridescent piranha and the
wheelchair bound wife.
Ask for the Moon, at the Norma Terris Theater in Chester, CT through August 11.
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