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Zanna, Don’t
Book, Music, and Lyrics by Tim Acito
Additional Book & Lyrics by Alexander Dinelaris
Directed by Elisa Woodruff
Choreography by D Eric Woolweber
Music direction by Allison Hendrix
At Bailiwick Repertory
1229 W. Belmont
Chicago, Il
Call 773-883-1090, tickets $25 - $30
Wednesdays & Thursdays at 8 pm
Saturdays at 7 pm
Sundays at 3 pm
Running time is 2hours with intermission
Through November 25, 2007
Zanna, Don’t suffers from a weak cast
Bailiwick Repertory has a long tradition of mounting daring and innovative plays: Parade, Dr. Sex and Jerry Springer—The Opera. These gender bending works were fresh with terrific production values and top non-Equity talent directed by David Zak. Unfortunately, Zanna, Don’t doesn’t live up to that tradition.
Zanna, Don’t takes us on a magical journey to a high school where the “normal” is inverted—being gay is the normal and being hetero is deviant and anti-social. Filled with pop, rock, and country styles with several strong ballads with a few cute up tempo tunes, Zanna, Don’t is a sweet, light feel-good musical that unfolds as the gay High School, The Musical. Zanna (Ira Spector) is the matchmaker with the electric magic wand. He uses his power to help a closeted hetero couple find love and acceptance. I like the material as pleasant fluff with a heart that sends a message of tolerance as it redefines normalcy.
Bailiwick’s production of Zanna, Don’t suffers from a weak cast that diminishes the well meaning spook that Tim Acito has created. It is the cast that I have a problem with. There were no mics in use—thank God. Most of the singers were flat and off key as they struggled with the William Finn-ish talk/pop singing styles. Several of the boys sang much too soft to be heard—the lack of projection (even in the small theatre) was noticeable as several cast members got drown-out during duets and ensemble singing. One of the girls spoke much too fast with her squeaky voice and another mumbled her dialogue and sang without any attempt at projecting to be heard and understood. I guess they don’t teach projection in college? The dancing seemed cluttered and forced as many players were out of step. The weak voices hurt the show. The main characters lacked enough warmth for us to care about. Each came of as clichés. I never bought Zanna’s magic powers. Ira Spector tried too hard.
The production reminded me of a school production. Too bad the talent didn’t live up to the material. Still, the audience at the performance I attended seemed to relate to the material and the energy of the cast. The show has been extended until the end of November and it is Jeff Recommended so audiences do enjoy the show. For me, the weak voices and poor singing spoiled it.
Somewhat Recommended
Tom Williams
Tom99@chicagocritic.com for comments
Talk Theatre in Chicago podcast
Date Reviewed: October 24, 2007
Jeff Recommended
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