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SEE ROCK CITY & OTHER DESTINATIONS Send This Review to a Friend
I knew there would be trouble ahead when upon entering the theater to see the musical “See Rock City & Other Destinations” members of the audience were herded behind white lines along the walls of the square space. In one corner was a high pile of beach chairs--a kind of dumb sculpture idea. No, we couldn’t take a chair to sit down. We had to wait thus imprisoned until a little before the show, whereupon staff members began unloading and positioning the chairs in various patterns. Only at the signal were we permitted to scramble for one of these unreserved seats. This pretentiousness and arrogance on the part of the producing Transport Group Theatre Company sets up an audience-unfriendly atmosphere, and the designated seating in the square results in sight and hearing disadvantages according to where a portion of the musical is being performed.
The show, with music by Brad Alexander and book and lyrics by Adam Mathias, turned out to be a mix of failed ambition and further pretentiousness, all in all rather a bore despite the contributions of a competent seven-member cast doubling up to play a total of 14 characters and the efforts of director Jack Cummings III. The concept at the heart of the book encompasses the problems people have finding themselves and taking risks in life, as evidenced by a series of separate episodes.
We meet Jess (Bryce Ryness), a drifter, and Dodi (Mamie Parris), a waitress, and Jess sings about heading for Rock City, a place he just has to go. Dodi becomes entranced and heads there with him as they get to know one another while driving. There’s a bit of ingenuity here, as two other actors crouch in front of them with lights on their backs to illuminate Jess and Dodi. The introductory song Jesse sings repeats Rock City so many times that I leaned over and facetiously asked my wife, “Where does he say he’s going?” It turned out that Rock City was only built of rocks, sort of a forerunner of the show’s shallow content.
Other segments included a woman and her ailing grandfather at the Alamo, where he goes to recapture the feelings he had when he met his wife there. In another segment three sisters on an Alaska cruise deal with the task of dumping their father’s ashes, and some of their banter is funny. In one bit set at Coney Island there is discovery of homosexual feelings and a recoiling from the experience, the situation delineated by Cutter (Ryness) and Rick (Stanley Bahorek). They have one of the show’s better, livelier songs, “You Are My Bitch.”
And so it goes, building up to a Niagara Falls scene, in which Kate (Donna Lynne Champlin) as a nervous bride afraid to marry meets a tour guide (Jonathan Hammond), who symbolically challenges her to go over the falls in a barrel, a metaphorical discussion akin to taking the wedding plunge. It is all rather pompous.
Other game cast members include Ryan Hillard and Sally Willert. Alas, acting isn’t the only chore for the ensemble. There is a large structure at times climbed and bearing spotlights as well, with cast members taking turns tediously schlepping it around the stage space for use in various segments. But perhaps that task is easier than making not-especially-interesting characters come to life and singing so-so lyrics set to a so-so score. At the Duke on 42nd Street, 229 West 42nd, $48. Phone: 646-223-3010.
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