Review: World Premiere Musical ROADS COURAGEOUS Has a Few Potholes

There's a strange thing about roads. They must be carefully paved and must lead somewhere before they're driven upon. Such is the problem with Roads Courageous, the highly problematic new musical enjoying its World Premiere at The Playhouse San Antonio.

Roads Courageous tries to tell the true story of Dr. John R. Brinkley, a Depression Era doctor who implanted goat testicles into his male patients in order to cure impotence. Brinkley was also a pioneer of radio advertising. Though Brinkley amassed quite a wealth from his unorthodox medical procedure, he diEd Penniless due to countless malpractice and fraud lawsuits. While the story of Dr. Brinkley is certainly interesting, Roads Courageous fails to tell it in an engaging, interesting, or even intelligible way. The show is void of developed characters, a clear plot, or any sense of purpose, leaving the audience puzzled as to why we're supposed to care about Brinkley and his plight. For a show which deals with erectile dysfunction, this is as flaccid as possible.

Much of the problems arise from the book and lyrics by Thomas W. Nyman and music and lyrics by Kevin Parman. I assume this is the first foray into writing an original musical for both, as neither claim authorship of other shows in their bios and my research on both netted the same results. Nyman's book is confusing and muddled with problem after problem. Scenes have no beginning, middle, or end and don't develop characters, plot, or themes. A secondary story about radio personality Wolfman Jack seems grossly out of place and unnecessary. With its focus on Brinkley, Brinkley's son, and Wolfman Jack, It's difficult to pinpoint whose story this is and whose point of view we're following. As the story violently shifts back and forth in time, it's also challenging to figure out where and when we are. The show's tone is also dubious. Certain sense seem comical, others downright campy (in one scene in which Brinkley performs his operation, we see goat gonads that bounce off the stage and into the pit), and others which I assume are meant to be serious-including a death scene and a morphine-induced haze-elicit laughs and snickers from the audience.

Parman's score is certainly stronger than Nyman's book, but it too has a few issues. Though there are similarities to great scores like Stephen Flaherty's score for Ragtime, Roads Courageous lacks hummable, memorable tunes. Some songs are ridiculously short and end before they truly begin. Some of the best songs are written for secondary characters who could easily be cut from the show altogether. While it sounds like Parman is trying to write a throwback to classic, celebrated American musicals, many musical theater conventions are completely ignored. There's no "I Want" song. There's no eleven o-clock number. There are no showstoppers. Any musical theater fan or any of the dozens of us who still watch "Smash" understand the importance of these types of songs. The traditional, tried and true musical theater conventions and structure would greatly improve this piece.

Sadly, the rest of the creative team has their issues as well. While Tim Hedgepeth is considered one of the best directors in San Antonio, his direction here is pedestrian and amateurish. The staging is bland and stale. Nothing is attention grabbing, and in many of the first act scenes, Hedgepeth leaves his ensemble on stage but gives them nothing to do. Other directorial choices are downright laughable and distracting, like a sequence involving two male dancers dressed as goats. Wendy Ellis's choreography-an endless stream of box steps, grape vines, and marching in place-is just as uninteresting as Hedgepeth's direction. The set by Claire A. Jac Jones and Nathan Thurman is blank and dull with the exception of a large radio studio set which looks more like a mad scientist lab than a radio studio. The tacky projections by Ale Palma don't add to the story and aren't integrated well into the set, and Jason Martin's lighting is overly bright and without variance. Of the creative team, the only person who stands out for the right reasons is costumer Rose Kennedy. Her attention to detail creates a strong contrast between the clothes worn by the dusty Depression Era ensemble and the decadent opulence worn by Brinkley and his wife.

It's unfortunate that the talented cast here doesn't have better material to work with. While the ensemble is comprised of gifted singers and actors, they look defeated, tired, bored, and embarrassed. The leads and supporting cast-particularly Roy B. Bumgarner II as Dr Brinkley, Sherry Gibbs Houston as Brinkley's wife, Trey Hoadley as Brinkley's son, Anna Gangai as the astrologer, Jason Mosher as the fortune-teller, and Chris Berry as the Lonesome Cowboy-are all strong performers with fantastic voices and solid stage presence, but sadly none of them are adequately utilized or even given characters that are remotely interesting or appealing.

While Dr. John R. Brinkley is certainly a larger-than-life character whose life begs to be musicalized, Roads Courageous simply doesn't do his story justice. As it stands now, Roads Courageous isn't stage ready and needs to take the road back to read-throughs and workshops.

Run time: Approximately 2 hours and 45 minutes including one 15 minute intermission.

ROADS COURAGEOUS plays The Playhouse San Antonio at 800 West Ashby San Antonio, 78212 now thru March 17. Performances are Friday and Saturday at 8:00pm and Sunday at 2:30pm. Tickets are $25 adult, $20 military and seniors, $15 students, and $10 children 12 and under. For tickets and more information, visit www.theplayhousesa.org

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