Review: Phoebe Legere is a Dynamo in SPEED QUEEN

Blessed with a swinging croon as dynamic as Judy Garland's, magnetic intensity that recalls Carol Channing, and a swaggering exuberance that would wow Ethel Merman, Phoebe Legere's talent is the sort that uplifts sinking ships. In SPEED QUEEN, her latest commission at Dixon Place, she does precisely that, working hard to buoy clunking parts that fail to come together. But how could the story of Joe Carstairs - transgender superhero icon from the 1930's and a motorboat champion brought to life by a Pulitzer Prize nominated musician and downtown goddess - possibly go wrong? With scattershot focus on irrelevant material that threatens to capsize the entire enterprise.

Before we dive in too deeply, let's consider Legere's rousing jazz score. A quilt of pastiche songs that capture the WWI to WWII era sound, Legere has outdone herself in crafting infectious tunes that set the audience bopping with delight. As a tunesmith she is Cole Porter's feminine flipside. Though her lyrics are not equal in measure - and the ill advised rap number should be eliminated all together - Legere's delivery is of the sort that Fred Astaire used to sell a song: dashing execution wedded to precise elocution. When impersonating her lovers and their hijinks - notably Marlene Dietrich and Tallulah Bankhead - Legere shows a madcap brilliance for salty comedy that would make SNL or MAD TV blush.

Unfortunately, focus on two ancillary characters nearly upends the evening. It is clear that Legere believes that Dolly Wilde and Natalie Barry are important, and undoubtedly to Carstairs they were, but the docudrama theatre as a book report delivery that she and director Lissa Morra have concocted stops the show cold. As do the innumerable costume costume changes, wrestling with uncooperative props, and faulty microphone - which proved utterly unnecessary, what with Legere's powerhouse belt. Strip all of those superfluous elements away, then put Legere at the piano belting out champagne soaked tunes, and you have heaven.

Legere and her production team want a Broadway scale production, but what they have is an enchanting cabaret about Joe Carstairs and her early lust for living life on her own terms. No amount of multimedia projections or amplification will change that. In fact, aside from her famed boat race, during which Legere swings back and forth in a trapeze rigged motorboat while roaring a song, all other stage business could have been eliminated and the evening would have been that much happier for it. Sometimes "more is better", but usually a show just wants to be what it is. SPEED QUEEN is very much so an unfinished product. While I enjoyed watching her float above the chaos and admired that she was able to transcend the mishaps, I sincerely hope that Legere will trim down on the fat. She deserves a lean mean musical machine equal to her talent.

SPEED QUEEN runs at Dixon Place through March 24th, 2018.

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