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"Hmmm..." you may be saying to yourself. "A one-act musical centered around a group therapy session? How good could that possibly be?"
Answer: Pretty damn good.
Have a Nice Life, Nice People Theatre Company's current production under the direction of Bill Felty and musical direction of Rob Blackwell, is an unlikely musical, but a solid one. Very rarely self-indulgent (which, let's face it, therapy often is), the show is surprisingly conventional, if not in conceit, then certainly in composition. From the Fosse-esque lyrics and choreography in "Hate Mail" (performed by Nicole Blicher as Barbara, with the ensemble) to the Comden and Green-like "Old-Fashioned Romance" (complete with soft shoe routine, performed by Dorien Belle as Chris, with the ensemble), here is a thoroughly modern musical that still manages to feel very familiar.
The characters in Have a Nice Life are appropriately over-the-top for a musical, but at the same time, they really do seem like real people. Real people who need therapy, but real people nonetheless. Amy (Miriam White) is a sperm bank nurse who can't have children; Barbara is in the group because the aforementioned hate mail landed before a judge; Chris is a virgin who still lives with his mother and wants only to find his one true love; Frank (Gregg Pica) is a disgruntled postal worker with serious trust issues; Jackie (Amy Acchione) keeps having babies, hoping that her husband might someday take notice; Jean (Megan Mazaika) curses at the young children she teaches and can't keep a boyfriend; and Patrick (Noah Mazaika) is that therapist who studied psychology more to deal with his own issues than to help with anyone else's. While it's unlikely that all these issues would be assembled in one room, they're all problems that people face daily, only put to music.
The book can sometimes be a bit weak, but there's usually very little dialogue between the clever songs, so it's easy to overlook it, especially with seven stellar performers onstage. Blicher, Pica, Acchione, and Ms. Mazaika shine especially brightly when they take centerstage, but the play is at its best when all of the actors perform as an ensemble, whether dancing in "Hate Mail" and "Old-Fashioned Romance" (Nancy Berman Kantra's choreography is silly and simple and works effectively) or singing in "90 Minutes" (although the staggered lyrics here were sometimes difficult to make out) and "Word Association." There is no main character in Have a Nice Life; each character gets his or her time to take the stage. Which, after all, is what both group therapy and musical theatre are really all about: sharing. |
