Review: PROHIBITION - A MUSICAL COMEDY ABOUT THE WAR ON BOOZE at Crank Collective
By: Joni Lorraine Mar. 02, 2017
Following MURDERS AND MOONTOWERS, THE TRUE STORY OF BONNIE AND CLYDE and BOOMTOWN, Crank Collective's PROHIBITION- A MUSICAL COMEDY ABOUT THE WAR ON BOOZE opened to a receptive crowd last Thursday night. The story of the struggle between the Drys and the Wets during the period of prohibition in Central Texas, Crank Collective packs it all in: Temperancers, the Klan, German-Americans, brewers, poll fixers, Suffragettes and Doughboys. This theatre company commits to a worthy effort with a piece of promising entertainment.
Set in the period just prior to Prohibition, natch, PROHIBITION is a story as much between the Drys and Wets as it is between our ingenues Frances (Megan Ortiz) and Eddie (Joshua Meindertsma). Frances is a Dry and Eddie is a Wet, and they're as destined to come together as Romeo and Juliet. And they do, but first, the two have to work their way from each end of the moral spectrum to meet in the middle. Also, Frances has to challenge her evil Uncle, who's bribed the local head of the Klan to burn down her beau's dad's German-American brewery. Also, Eddie has to go to war and discover he's in love and needs to give up the bottle to win his girl. As it works out, they both learn something about balance along the way, and that neither is entirely right or wrong.
John Cecil and Crank Collective have written a promising piece of musical theatre. Most of the music is appropriately folksy, if not complex, sung by a cast whose vocal ability is surprisingly underutilized here. There's one musical number sung by Joshua Meindertsma, that's downright beautiful. I was disappointed the company didn't opt for listing the numbers in their program, or I'd have provided the title here.
At a run time of just over an hour, it's not the easiest thing to shove all the desired information about this story into the book. Billed as a musical comedy I'd have preferred a thicker subplot to help add more dimension to the historical perspective this piece attempts to provide, and a fuller realization of a consistent production style. A talented cast attempts to tell this story, which is more particularly suited in it's current form for classes and history museums than musical comedy theatre per se. They make easy work of it, though the night I attended felt more like a final dress rehearsal than actual performance. Scene changes and cues lagged the night I attended, but by next weekend, I'm sure the show will be rolling right along.
Production values are mixed with this show. There are a number of challenges to face when mounting a period piece with success. As I perused the program, it seems there is plenty for this small company to do, as many of the production crew are listed as doing double duty for this show. More often than not, there are budgetary reasons for questionable production values so I am hesitant to criticize too heavily in this regard, however, executing the show with a more minimalist concept might have made the show appear more cohesive. That said, Crank Collective should hardly be faulted for such matters alongside any number of other bootstrapped theatre companies here in ATown.
The cast of PROHIBITION is, underneath it all, talented and experienced. Aside from the aforementioned pacing issues, the cast is the best part of this production, as it should be. The cast includes Heath Allyn, Dara Hasenkampf, Kirk Kelso, Joshua Meindertsma, Megan Ortiz, Joseph Quintana, Phil Rodriguez and Emily Villarreal.
While I've cited some flaws here, PROHIBITION is still quite worthy of a look, especially with the surprising just over an hour viewing time. With it's historical series and PROHIBITION Crank Collective and Cecil do something no other theatre company in town has bothered to do. They're creating, telling and preserving a history of Central Texas for the community to enjoy. PROHIBITION, despite it's "racy" theme, is fairly family friendly, and it personally provided this third generation Central Texan with new information about Texas history. Perhaps it will do the same for you.
PROHIBITION
Crank Collective
Daugherty Arts Center
1100 Barton Springs Rd
February 23-March 4
Tickets $12-25
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2715344
Running time: 75 Minutes
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