Review: SMT's REEFER MADNESS Offers Few Highs

In these turbulent and overly permissive times, we need shows like "Reefer Madness" to show us the way. The show itself is a wonderful and very funny spoof that when done right can have you laughing more than if you were high on "the reefer" yourself. Unfortunately the production currently performing at Seattle Musical Theatre is so unfocused and under produced that it couldn't save anyone. In fact I question whether or not they were all high while they were making it.

Based on the 1936 propaganda film of the same name, The Lecturer (Ryan Glascock) has come to warn us parents in the audience of the looming threat to our children and our very way of life, marijuana! He shows us the harrowing tale of young Jimmy Harper (Jaron Boggs) and his girlfriend Mary Lane (Allyson Jacobs-Lake), two wholesome kids who fall under the spell of the evil dope peddler Jack (Garrett Dill) and his drug addicted minions Mae, Ralph and Sally (Tae Phoenix, Larissa Schmitz and Benjamin Cournoyer). As they fall deeper and deeper in with this crowd they inevitably fall victim to a multitude of sins such as lust, theft and even murder!

Kevin Murphy and Dan Studney's show is a complete winner when done well. Filled with infectious tunes and tons of laughs the show manages a parody of the original amazingly well without ever becoming tired. But director Steven Fogell seems not to get the humor of the piece as there were so many missed comedic opportunities throughout the evening. Candace Larson's choreography is at best sloppy and at worst from the wrong era as much of the dancing looked like an aerobics workout and not a 1930's sock hop. And the collective staging from both of them was so all over the place and unfocused that I found it incredibly difficult to figure out who was the focus of any scene or really where I should be looking. Music director Josh Zimmerman and his band do a fine job but as usual with an SMT show, they overpower the singers and the sound system repeatedly peaks out and causes distortion and feedback.

The actors are trying but look like they've been given little to no direction as they too are unfocused and all over the place. As our two heroes Boggs and Jacobs-Lake seem to be playing less as naïve and more as childlike and stupid and there is a big difference between 1930's naiveté and dumb. Glascock brings in multiple roles throughout the evening but, for a character with all of the exposition, needs to worry less about being funny in his costume and more about projection and enunciation. In fact the only ones who seemed to have a grasp on the era and their characters were Dill and Phoenix but even they fell victim to a lack of focus and that sound system at times. And the wonderful ensemble does what they can and appear to be having fun but are seriously in need of some direction.

If you're going to put up any show you can't just throw some people on a stage and hope for the best and that's what this looked like. And so with my three letter rating system I give Seattle Musical Theatre's "Reefer Madness" a very sober NAH. Pot may be legal in Washington but this production is a crime.

"Reefer Madness" performs at Seattle Musical Theatre through October 30th. For tickets or information visit them online at www.seattlemusicaltheatre.org.

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