The New York Musical Theater Festival hits a homerun with the production of River's End, a new musical with books and lyrics by Cheryl Coons and music by Chuck Larkin. The musical features Rick DesRochers directing an impressive cast to interpret two different points of view of the real life disappearance of Glen and Bessie Hyde. Set in 1928, Glen and Bessie celebrate their honeymoon by rafting down the river rapids to the Grand Canyon never to be seen again.
The play opens in the present day with two river guides, Kent and Georgie (Warren Kelley and Phyllis Somerville) speaking of this story as treasured river folk lure. However, Kent and Georgie present two differing yet plausible versions of what could have transpired during Glen and Bessie's trip that caused their disappearance. Seamlessly, River's End weaves together two completely different stories of the journey with two pairs of actors playing the Hydes representing each theory.
Through song and a flip flop of first and third person narration, River's End takes the audience on a guided journey into this endearing and mesmerizing story. Kent and Georgie stand firm in their roles as guides by pushing and steering the story in the direction they want it to take. The audience soon sees the differences within the two interpretations of the couples which ultimately supports the varying theories of their unfortunate fates. Each pair of Glen and Bessie is an example of perfect ying and yang, with each couple completing their counterpart. The first set of Glen and Bessie (Evan Casey and Tempe Thomas) offer up a strong and somewhat rebellious woman who is the biggest advocate of the trip. She and her supportive husband seem happy and very much in love, with Glen hoping that this trip will serve as a final adventure together before they settle down to start a family. The second pair of Glen and Bessie (Colby Foytik and Dani Marcus) offer the exact opposite. This interpretation displays a couple with tension between them with no real sense of ease or trust. Bessie urges her daring husband to not make the trip but eventually accompanies him on the journey based on the promise that this will be his last "adventure" before settling down to start a family. However, much like a river, the story ebbs and flows revealing new elements to the story and showing that what was once running strong can quickly change course.
The story is indeed gripping and the two interpretations the play simultaneously integrates is an ingenious approach to theater. The entire creative team deserves a round of applause for creating a story infusing several points of view in an "easy-to-understand" formula to offer something a little variant of the norm.
In the end, River's End has all the makings of a Broadway play; by just sitting in the audience one can easily see the transition from festival performance to theater district gem. The score is endearing and evoking, something that Cheryl Coons, Chuck Larkin and musical director Laura Bergquist should all be proud to stand behind. The score includes an array of songs which demonstrate superb musical skill, from a revealing character song like "The World He Sees," sung by Bessie Two (Dani Marcus) to plot moving numbers like "Double Rainbow," sung by Bessie One and Bessie Two (Tempe Thomas and Dani Marcus). River's End even features its own signature power ballad, "Still Waters" which could easily be seen as a Broadway hit. Even the play's adventurous plot of river rafting to the Grand Canyon is theatrical fodder for intricate set designers to sink their teeth into.
These elements, backed up by a solid story not only makes River's End an enjoyable experience, but it also gives the audience a glimpse of what it "could be." And if the "could be" is something that doesn't come to fruition, audiences can still smile to themselves knowing that they've witnessed something magical that unfortunate others have missed out on. Bravo!
