BWW Album Review: DESPERATE MEASURES Revisits A Wild West

There's a good reason that Measure For Measure is considered one of Shakespeare's "problem plays." It's a weird blend between comedy (featuring that immortal device of classical theatre, the bed trick) and a surprisingly bleak, mildly misogynistic outlook on love, marriage, and human nature as a whole. It's many of the same reasons, ironically enough, that the Western genre is so difficult to pull off. Putting the two together, as Desperate Measures, the off-Broadway musical retelling of Shakespeare's play, did, seems like it should be a recipe for disaster. Although the cast album has its moments of, well, desperation, as a whole it's a charming, amusing score.

It's evident from the get-go that this is a straight-shooting, whistle-down-a-tumbleweed and guns-at-dawn Western. The job of a musical's opening number is to establish where we are and why we're there, and "The Ballad of Johnny Blood" definitely does that, checking off all the signals of a Western: the twangy sound, the charismatic criminal, and the evil authority figure. Conor Ryan plays our hapless hero with plenty of gusto and just enough winks at the macho cowboy stereotype and a big, soaring voice on his signature "It's Good To Be Alive."

The premise is, as you probably expect, one of those stories that's simple at heart but laden with complications in practice. Johnny Blood (Ryan) is sentenced to die. His sister, a novice nun, tries to persuade the local authority to set him free, and the villainous man in charge is willing to do so - for a price.

It wouldn't be much of a Western - or a Shakespearean comedy - without love interests, sibling hijinks, and some evil guy (my English degree has never been put to better use). Emma Degerstedt and Lauren Molina take on the well-trod territory of contrasting female characters. One might call it the Laurey/Ado Annie paradigm, if it wasn't so prevalent long before American musical theatre hit its stride. Degerstedt is Susanna, the virtuous novice, while Molina hams it up wonderful as Bella Rose, a saloon girl.

Both are absolute delights, with Degerstedt's genuinely lovely vocals on songs such as "Look In Your Heart" and "What Is This Feeling" and Molina's gleeful comedy on stock-sounding tunes that include the unfortunately titled "It's Getting Hot In Here." Parnicky's "What Is This Feeling" is surprisingly contemporary and relatable, as she contemplates her plans versus her feelings: "What does it matter how I feel, I have plans I won't surrender, dreams I won't betray." If you'll forgive another Rodgers and Hammerstein reference: if Fraulein Maria had had a solo to figure out her feelings, this would have probably been it.

In general, the songs - with music by David Friedman and lyrics by Peter Kellogg - are perfectly serviceable and occasionally lovely. That all evaporates, unfortunately, anytime our villain, gamely played by Nick Wyman, appears. You can hear the mustache-twirling through your speakers. A stock villain is pretty much a standard part of the genre and necessary for the plot, but music-wise, it's all very one-dimensional for this character.

Desperate Measures doesn't set out to reinvent the wagon wheel, but it's a diverting bit of entertainment nonetheless.

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