Review: Café Nordo's JITTERBUG PERFUME Fails to Find Its Base Note

Café Nordo is known for their sumptuous meals combined with fun, lighthearted shows and rollicking music. A Nordo show basically promises a good time, or so I thought. While I didn't have a terrible time at their most recent offering, "Jitterbug Perfume", since I don't think it's possible to have a terrible time at a Nordo show, I will say I feel they bit off a little more than they could chew (pun intended). With a convoluted story and an overpowering band, the show failed to offer their usual evening that you could melt away into, but instead I found myself having to work way too hard.

Based on Tom Robbins novel and adapted by Terry Podgorski and Stephen Robinson we follow (or try to follow) two different storylines. One, that of a dethroned King Alobar (Brian Pucheu) who now searches the earth for the secret to immortality and eventually thinks he finds it in the guise of a mystical perfume, along with Kudra (Marie Bolla) a young woman fleeing an arranged marriage. And two, the story of a young perfumer Priscilla (Helen Roundhill) in modern day who is trying to recreate the long lost perfume of Alobar's from the last few remnants of it while dealing other perfumers trying to steal her work including her Step-Mother Madame Devalier (Lisa Viertel) and her assistant V'Lu (Jade Jones). All the while she's pursuing relationships with her co-worker Ricki (Mara Palma) and Wiggs Dannyboy (Chris Shea), the head of the Last Laugh Foundation who searches for immortality himself. See what I mean by convoluted?

I spent the first part of the show completely confused and at the first interval leaned over to my theater companion, who's actually read the book before, and said, "I have no idea what's going on." He responded, "I know it's been awhile since I read the book but neither do I." Eventually things do get clearer but by then it was difficult to care about the characters especially since it was tough to really tell who this story was about. And the music from Anastasia Workman while fitting right in with the era also blasted at top volume at all times making the enjoyment of it or any kind of conversation during the intervals impossible.

The cast does what they can to convey the story but there's so much there with so little payoff. Pucheu is quite charismatic as the immortal king and has good chemistry with Bolla. Roundhill has incredible presence and commands the stage beautifully as the narrator of the piece. Shea does what he can with the outrageous Wiggs Dannyboy but is saddled with some really awful jokes. Opal Peachey pulls double duty well, but I was never quite sure why she was wearing a whale mask. And Jones beautifully handles one of the few songs in the piece that the cast sings and honestly, we could have used more of that.

This has been one of the few Café Nordo shows that I didn't walk out of grinning from ear to ear. On the contrary, it was long, loud and confusing and while the food was good, I was glad when it was over. And so, with my three-letter rating system, I give "Jitterbug Perfume" from Café Nordo a "longing for the old days of Nordo" MEH. But then, I guess they can't all be winners.

"Jitterbug Perfume" performs at Café Nordo through May 12th. For tickets or information visit them online at www.cafenordo.com.

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