The Next Thing
Book by Ronan Marra
Music and Lyrics by Jon Steinhagen
Directed by Ronan Marra
Signal Ensemble Theatre, 1802 W. Berenice (map)
thru June 7 | tickets: $15-$20 | more info
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World premiere musical lacks tune, plot to stand on
Signal Ensemble Theatre presents
The Next Thing
Review by Patrick Dyer
I never thought I’d see a musical that literally had no stakes, with a story that doesn’t “sing” at all. But here it is: The Next Thing, a show about two film actors who meet on set and slowly fall in love over the course of six years and five movies. One’s an actress hailing all the way from Britain named Kate (Courtney Jones), looking to start a serious acting career; the other a Hollywood star looking to start a rap career named Conor (Christopher Selefski). They bicker and insult each other before they inevitably fall for one another even though they’re completely wrong for one another. In the midst of their love story (if you can call it that – it’s very unconvincing and rushed), they work with Sam (Joseph Stearns), a big-time director who wants to return to his artistic roots, Laura
It’s one thing to write a show with such a weak premise as the “Will they or won’t they get together?” storyline that plagues most Hollywood rom-coms, but The Next Thing feels content on giving us a story with no stakes, no investment, and no wit. And much of this is because of the romance (or lack of). There’s no tension between the two of them because literally in the first scene, when they start bickering at each other, it’s obvious that they’ll end up together, so you’re stuck there waiting for the inevitable final scene when one of the professes their love to the other and they realize how much they’ve really loved each all this time. It also doesn’t help that a woman like Kate seems far too intelligent and career-oriented to ever fall in love with an obnoxious wannabe rapper like Conor, and having her be the first one to sporadically change her heart for Conor is all the more unconvincing. Jones plays Kate to the best of her abilities, but her weak British accent and the fact that she’s just not given enough juicy material to work with only hurts her more. The character of Conor is too cartoonish and grating to start with, and Selefski plays those parts all too well. He, like Jones, is trapped with a weak character, but unlike Jones, Selefski is not up to task to carrying an entire show. (Though, granted, the book and score don’t really help.)
In an interview with TIME magazine, Stephen Sondheim recounted what Oscar Hammerstein taught him about writing songs for musical theatre: “Oscar taught me that a song should be like a little one-act play, with an exposition, a development, and a conclusion: at the end of the song, the character should have moved to a different position from where he was emotionally at the beginning.” If only composer and lyricist, Jon Steinhagen took that advice, because the songs in this show do the worst thing songs can do in a musical: stop it dead in its tracks. The score itself doesn’t have any real standout or “hummable” tunes, but that wouldn’t matter as much if they added anything to the storyline or revealed something about the characters we the audience didn’t already know. That’s not the case here. Layered beneath this, Ronan Marra’s book lacks any real momentum and doesn’t give Steinhagen much to work from. For example, Sam sings a song called “Sam Will” about how he wants to be more artistic and not just a rich filmmaker. Why? We already knew before that he wasn’t satisfied with making just blockbuster hits, so where’s the progression of his character? And how is that such an emotionally stirring desire to warrant bursting into song? The show lacks real momentum without real stakes or tension between the leads, and can only slog along from one pointless song to the next. Marra’s book could definitely benefit from some trimming, seeing how most of the scenes drag on for so long just to make bad jokes and reiterate what we already know about the characters.
The only moments in the show that really warrant breaking out into song are “The Next Thing I Say,” the Act I finale where Kate discovers her love for Conor, and its reprise at the end of Act II where Conor professes his love for Kate. But because their romance is so trite and unbelievable, the songs themselves come across as trite and unbelievable too. The cast sings the score enough to not miss the notes or rhythms, but they still overall sound underwhelming. Jones seems to be putting the most effort into it, but even she falls a bit flat. Maybe that’s because the scenarios and characters are so thin that the music can’t really sing as much as it desperately wants to.
In the middle of Act II, Kate sings about how she needs “Some Direction” in her life now that she’s falling for this obnoxious wannabe rapper. I can easily say the same thing for this forgettable and tuneless musical.
Rating: ★½
The Next Thing continues through June 7th at Signal Ensemble Theatre, 1802 W. Berenice (map), with performances Thursdays-Saturdays at 8pm, Sundays 3pm. Tickets are $15-$20, and are available by phone (773-698-7389) or online through Vendini.com (check for half-price tickets at Goldstar.com). More information at SignalEnsemble.com. (Running time: 2 hours 15 minutes, includes an intermission)
Photos by Johnny Knight
artists
cast
Courtney Jones (Kate), Christopher Selefski (Conor), Eleanor Katz (Laura), Joseph Stearns (Sam), Vincent Lonergan (Herbert/Kate’s Father), Elizabeth Bagby (Annika, Lexi, Elizabeth), Stephanie Wohar (Dana & others), Taylor Okey (Klepto & others)
behind the scenes
Ronan Marra (director, book), Jon Steinhagen (music and lyrics, musical director), Brigitte Ditmars (choreography), Melania Lancy (set design), Elsa Hiltner (costume design), Anthony Ingram (sound design), Julie E. Ballard (lighting design), Elise Kauzlaric (dialect coach), Stephanie Ingram (stage manager, props), Johnny Knight (photos)
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