Author: Tom Williams

It seems that playwright Lisa Kron tries to write several plays here. The result is a long-winded bore! For 2 and a half hours we are stuck with Ellen reciting the liberal political agenda without many rebuttals until Kelli Walker’s Judy retorts with a cynical unhopeful look at the state of the American dream. Kron even creates a character with homophobic beliefs that leads to another lecture. In the interest of clarity, pick one idea and develop that.

They’re Playing Our Song is essentially a two-character show. Vernon and Sonia are the sole characters on stage; each character has a three-person Greek chorus acting as their inner voices. The Brown Paper Box Co’s production uses pre-recorded music and a 70’s flavored set. Basically, it is well-sung by Dan Gold and Carmen Risi with a tad too much use of the three-person male and three-person female Greek chorus.

What the show depicts are unhappy folks, with Charlotte in the lead, each struggling to find happiness bu embarking on a strange modern-day odyssey to thwart theipast demons. We never get to like nor care about anyone as we waste 85 minutes witnessing this group of losers on their “Saturns Returns” journey whatever that means? Themes such as isolation versus connection, addiction… traume and loneliness are sung by a cast of remarkable poor singers trying to make terrible lyrics resonate or even be understood

All of the above, the character, six in all, depict Diane’s struggles and her Harlem associates. Wandachristine, in one of the strongest tour de force performances I have ever witnessed, efectively ebodies each charter, men, women, old and young with stunning acurate accents, gesturs, vocal tones in he course of delivering a powerful solo show. The writing contains vivid imagery, exceptional thythms and smart allusions.