Review: Wilbury Group Slays with MURDER BALLAD

At its core, MURDER BALLAD is a simple and timeless story of a love triangle (or quadrangle) gone wrong. What makes this show so fresh and compelling, is the fantastic addition of catchy, funny, heartfelt songs and the excellent direction of Wendy Overly and set design of Josh Christofferson. Wilbury Theatre Group is quickly developing a reputation for staging exciting and fresh musicals, and Murder Ballad is no exception.

The story is set in 1990s New York City, and the excellent costume design of Erin Meghan Donnelly never lets you forget that. Babydoll dresses, lots of crushed velvet, faded Mother Love Bone t-shirts and combat boots bring the viewer right back into the era of grunge, and the music in this production cements that feeling. The songs are absolutely phenomenal, and manage to still sound fresh while remaining true to the time period in the grunge vibe. Of course, a song is only as good as its singer, and thankfully this production has four incredibly talented voices to bring the songs to life.

Moira Costigan-Carraher is our narrator, and she looks like she's channeling a healthier but equally intimidating Courtney Love. In short shorts with tights and a velvet crop top, she sets the scene of Tom (Rudy Sanda) and Sara's (Jess Andra) young love in the gritty city. Theirs is a passionate, all-consuming love--the kind that can only really flame out, and when it eventually does, Sara seeks solace in the arms of Michael (Wyndham Maxwell), a PhD in poetry who relocates her to the Upper West Side into a building with a doorman. Things seem great for the young couple until their daughter gets old enough to go to school and Sara starts to feel restless, aimless and wonders what her old boyfriend Tom is up to.

Many elements come together to make this into a successful and intense 90 minute musical. The sets, which have the entire theatre space covered in sheets of plastic like a scene from American Psycho make the audience wonder just how gory this murder ballad is going to get--and is there a chance of accidentally being in a "splash zone". In addition to the sets, the choreography is intense and frenetic, especially in a fight scene which takes the already emotionally taut situation and ratchets up the tension almost to the breaking point. It's impossible to look away. This leads to another great strength of this work, which is flawless misdirection that never feels manipulative. At certain points in the production, the audience thinks any of the characters could be the one who kills or gets killed--assuming someone must be killed at all in a production called Murder Ballad.

The only drawback is the unfortunate vocal mixing. This musical takes a fairly simple premise, and manages to make it fresh but familiar with genuinely hilarious lines, but often those words are drowned out by the equally fantastic guitar riffs. Despite sitting in the front row and watching these actors sing their hearts out, unless they are facing you directly, the words get completely lost. The only moments when one can really appreciate the vocal talents of this cast, are during the quieter moments, but those are often less exciting. The music really serves the story, but this production would be much more solid if both the music and singing were allowed to shine equally.

It's exciting and invigorating to see Wilbury Theatre group take on these new, musical projects. Murder Ballad in particular is Wilbury at its best. In fact, most of the 2015-2016 season has been surprising and exceptional in a way that firmly establishes this company as one that isn't afraid to try something new and challenge themselves and the audience in unexpected ways. What could easily come off as pretentious is instead a deftly rendered night of excellent theatre and a pleasure to watch.

MURDER BALLAD runs April 14-30 at Wilbury Theatre Group 393 Broad Street, Providence RI 02907 Ticket prices range from $15-$25 and are available at thewilburygroup.org

Photo: Moira Costigan-Carraher as Narrator Photo by Maggie Hall

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