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Regional Reviews: St. Louis First Date Also see Richard's review of Elephants' Graveyard
But with that out of the way, Molly Wennstrom makes for a delightful "hoosier girl" in First Date who is hooking up (platonically) with the excellent Mitchell Henry-Eagles as a comically awkward investment banker on stage at the New Jewish Theatre for a memorably misguided blind date. First Date is not, in itself, great theatre. And it gets a "PG" rating for language and sexual references. But Lee Anne Matthews directs (and choreographs), combining blazing honesty in the book scenes with a broad comic sensibility in the songs. And with seven stunningly fine performers, it feels pretty great by the end. First Date debuted in 2012 in Seattle in an American Conservatory Theatre / 5th Avenue Theatre co-production. The musical has a book by Austin Winsberg and campy songs by Alan Zachary and Michael Weiner. It moved all the way across the country to the Longacre Theatre on Broadway the following year, where it ran for over five months. It's lightly adapted here at the Jewish Community Center with local references, which apparently is the norm. The first-rate director and performers infuse it all with relentless brains and naturalism. Will Bonfiglio is delightfully dry as a Paul Lynde type of waiter (and in other roles) in an unnamed restaurant on a set by John Stark. The story is played out beneath a nice abstract view of the downtown skyline, where Casey and Aaron spend a legendarily awful evening. Ms. Wennstrom almost seems to be coming out of a later John Waters film, and Mr. Henry-Eagles from an advanced calculus tutorial. But their characters (in the script, and for most of the show) seem to lack a fundamental desire to connect, in this play about an independent girl of no particular religion who meets this nice Jewish boy, rightly filled with angst. Reflecting modern norms, the yearning quality of the ingenues (in an old fashioned musical) is replaced by a contemporary fascination with the self. It's often as if they are bargaining for a refund at the Macy's complaint department instead of exploring a possible relationship together. And the songs of Zachary and Weiner seem like practical jokes, bursting out of tin cans like coiled spring-snakes. Still, top-quality actors make the anti-relationship story work more often than not. Other bar patrons transform into noodging friends and relatives with the help of a slew of wardrobe and accessories by costume designer Michele Friedman-Siler and props designer Katie Orr. The impressive four-piece band and all the singing seem effortlessly coordinated by music director Larry D. Pry. Jayson Heil is bracingly natural as a young Lothario ("Greg," though names here seem superfluous), an otherwise invisible friend from Aaron's childhood. And Grace Seidel adds fine support as the guilt-inducing sister of Ms. Wennstrom, who has married well and moved out to the suburbs. Hoosier or not, Ms. Wennstrom's "Casey" actually has made good: as a photographer who works in an art gallery, thereby illustrating the miracle of human reinvention, I suppose. Far more importantly, eighty minutes into the musical, she finally sets about reinventing Aaron, which turns out to be the saving grace of the show itself. I almost can't believe First Date can rise to that level of altruism. But that's where the acting comes in, and, in a nearly 100 minute show (with no intermission), it all comes to artistic life with something like majesty in the final 20 minutes. Drew Mizell adds a dash of fireball intensity as Casey's gay friend Reggie in a series of increasingly alarmed phone calls. And Greta Rosenstock regularly helps humanize Aaron in flashback moments as his grandmother, his mother, and his ex. They say musicals are about people falling in love, but that's probably not entirely true. And for a while, it seems like it's the last thing on the minds of this boy and girl. But isn't that how we all act, right before it's time for our big number? First Date, a production of The New Jewish Theatre, runs through December 8, 2024, at the Jewish Community Center, #2 Millstone Campus Drive, Creve Couer MO. For tickets and information, please visit www.newjewishtheatre.org. Cast: The Band: Production Staff: Additional Production Staff: * Denotes Member, Actors' Equity Association |
