The 24 Hour Musicals

Last night, The 24 Hour Company partnered with The Exchange to produce "The 24 Hour Musicals", 4 new 15-minute musicals written, rehearsed, and performed in 24 hours; presented as a one-night benefit at Joe's Pub.  The star-studded evening was full of stirringly provocative theatre. 

Producer Ari Edelman  introduced the evening, and showed a short documentary of the process (also produced within the 24-hour limit), which included clips of the writing (David Yazbek musing "What rhymes with 'Vagina'?"), the casting (the actors singing snippets of song), and the rehearsing (rehearsal spaces across the street) that all led up to the show we were about to experience.

The first musical was Pinwheeling Freestyle by David Yazbek and Jonathan Bernstein.  It was directed by Moises Kaufman, with James Sampliner as musical director.
The "Charge" fanfare set the scene as a baseball game, as Michael Longoria and Gavin Creel entered as concessions folk, in a witty and wordy song about beer.  Then we were on the pitcher's mound, where the pitcher (Steven Pasquale) had declined to pitch for an unprecedented 17 minutes, paralyzed by indecision; Longoria and Creel reentered as the catcher and the manager who both put more pressure on, explaining that a scout was in the audience, and that all their careers hung in the balance.  Then Celia Keenan-Bolger as the pitcher's wife, who entered with a suitcase to let him know why she was leaving. The play ended on a rather Beckett note, with the Pitcher alone, the need to pitch some way prominent in his mind, yet unable to move. The music was mainly in the pop/jazz vein that Yazbek does so well, later verging into minimalism as the pitcher underwent his existential angst.

The second piece was Partners, written and composed by Nellie McKay and Warren Leight.  It was directed by Ted Sperling, with Wendy Cavett as musical director.

This was perhaps the play best suited to the small Joe's Pub space, as it took place on the set of a 1969 telethon for "Tommy's Kids".  Denis O'Hare was wonderful as Tommy, who opened the show with a hilarious Russian pastiche (from Tommy's old show "A Tsar is Born"), then he brought on his friends, a singing duo played to the 1969 swanky lounge singer hilt by Mo Rocca and Tracie Thoms.  And then his friends reveal their surprise, they've brought along Tommy's old partner (an amazing Brooks Ashmanskas), who's brought a blank check for Tommy's kids, and the two perform their old duet "Partners".  Once off the air, though, tempers flare and Ashmanskas leaves in a huff.  Tommy rips up his check and is comforted by his friends.  The other music was delightful showtuney ballads, appropriate to the time, with just a bit of a knowing wink.

After intermission was my personal favorite, The Song of the Falling Man, written and composed by Todd Almond and Adam Bock.  It was directed by Jonathan Butterell, with musical director Chris Fenwick.

The piece began with Victoria Clark draped across John Ellison Conlee and Cheyenne Jackson (lucky lady!).  The three wore black and were connected by ropes tied around their waists.  A narrator (Claudia Shear) explained that Clark was having an affair with both the men: brothers.  They all go mountain climbing together, and in an accident Conlee slips and falls; they can't pull him to safety, and he begs her to cut the rope so they won't fall as well.  She does.  The piece was simply and effectively staged with nothing but 3 chairs and the rope.  The music was gorgeous, with wonderful harmonies.

The final piece of the evening was The Saddest Bar in the World, written by Joe Iconis and Jonathan Marc Sherman.  It was directed by Peter Ellenstein with musical director Vadim Feichtner.  

It was a comic piece about a one-legged tapdancer (Kerry Butler), an aw-shucks Marine (Jesse Tyler Ferguson), and a Russian Lesbian mechanic from an unspecified borough (Ashlie Atkinson), who end up in a love triangle where no one can be satisfied.  Nellie McKay was the bartendress who catered to them all in The Saddest Bar in the World, eventually lifting everyone's spirits with a jaunty tune on the ukulele about how wonderful it is to be sad. 

Choreography for the first and final pieces was by Chase Brock, while the two middle pieces were choreographed by Warren Carlyle.  The composers played piano for their own shows, with Gene Lewin on drums.

Speaking to some of the writers afterward, they all felt it was a positive experience, though some had to leave the room from nerves when they heard their name called.  Certainly it was a positive experience for the audience, who experienced a fine evening of seat-of-your-pants theatre.