'Imaginative and Original,' 35MM-A MUSICAL EXHIBITION Opens 2023-24 Season for Street Theatre Company

Street Theatre Company’s residency at The Barbershop Theatre continues in its expected fine form as the groundbreaking company heads into the 2023-24 season with a gloriously sung production of 35MM – A Musical Exhibition, a song cycle from one of musical theater’s contemporary power couples: composer/lyricist Ryan Scott Oliver (who’s been tapped for stardom by critics, grantors, showtune lovers and theater-goers alike) and his photographer husband Matthew Murphy (whose pictures provide the inspiration for this particular endeavor and who has become one of the most regularly sought-after production photographers in the business).

Together, the pair have created an entertaining, genre-blending and description-defying song cycle based on a collection of Murphy’s photographic images that is brought to vibrant life by director Everett Tarlton and his five-person cast – Kortney Ballenger, Ben Teal Davis, Tina Ray, Blake Holliday and Christian Sandoval – in a brisk, 80-minute performance that seems certain to rank among STC’s most-talked-about  shows (of which, admittedly, there are a lot!) and one that’s likely to result in greater notoriety for the quintet of talented performers who deliver the goods.

Attempts to discern an overall theme or meaning derived from the collection of songs included in the score for 35MM – A Musical Exhibition proves both disconcerting and near-impossible, particularly if one approaches the work with the notion it’s a typical musical. Clearly, it is not that, although Oliver’s music and lyrics exemplify his talents in that area. Rather, the show’s score seems more representative of the age-old adage of “a picture is worth a thousand words,” with each of Murphy’s photos (which, quite frankly, run the gamut from inspiring – and inspired – art to visuals that seem culled from stock images) represented by an original tune with imaginative words to afford a view into a life unknown and unexpected.

Tarlton’s actors and the six members of music director Nick Benefield’s band perform at the top of their collective game, infusing the whole spectacle with plenty of energy and a contemporary freshness heretofore untapped. Tarlton, an award-winning choreographer, keeps his actors in constant motion while they perform the 17 numbers listed in the playbill which, amid the intimate confines of the Barbershop Theatre, results in an immersive spirit that proves more engaging for audience members who are essentially flying blind through an unfamiliar show.

Completely sung-through, without the connecting thread of a “story” for the songs, if falls upon the actors to draw the audience into the performance, and they do so by utilizing all of their impressive talents to hold audiences enraptured. For example, Holliday portrays a perfectly taciturn nanny on an outing with a child from hell in “Caralee,” which proves funny and fun, while “The Ballad of Sara Berry” that comes right before the show’s finale (and features the entire cast, led by Ballenger as “the balladeer”) might prove the inspiration for an expanded musical about a high school prom queen who could give any group of mean girls a run for their money. Davis shines in “Crazy Town,” while he and the stellar Ray deliver the show-stopping “Twisted Teeth.” Sandoval, meanwhile, makes his own indelible mark with “Good Lady.”

Kristen DuBois’s gorgeous and creative lighting design adds to the overall design aesthetic of 35MM – A Musical Exhibition, which is performed on Shane Lowery’s well-conceived set that gives the actors varying levels on which they confidently strut their stuff. Randy Craft’s sound design works well to capture the sense of a world newly discovered, and his projections of Murphy’s photographs show the real inspiration for the work.

35MM – A Musical Exhibition. Music and lyrics by Ryan Scott Oliver. Based on photography by Matthew Murphy. Directed by Everett Tarlton. Music directed by Nick Benefield. Stage managed by Payton Tabb. Presented by Street Theatre Company at The Barbershop Theatre, 4003 Indiana Avenue, Nashville. Through August 26. Running time: One hour, 20 minutes (with no intermission). For details, go to www.streettheatrecompany.org.

photos by Andrew Morton

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