Schoolhouse Rock Live
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Enrikez, Rudick, Borden, Dawn, Diel, Loh
Photo by Ed Krieger
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By Ben Miles
Schoolhouse Rock was an ABC television program that initially ran for thirteen seasons (1973 - 1986). An educational series aimed at those who had graduated from the early childhood focus of Sesame Street, Rock returned to the airwaves in 1993, where, for two more seasons, it continued to practice the same formula for success as it did in its earlier TV days; that is, animated short-films that intertwine cartoons with catchy pop music and lyrics, along with engaging lessons in grammar, mathematics, American history, and government, as well as science and current events.
Though the show is long past its heyday as a network broadcast, Schoolhouse Rock has been re-incarnated as a musical staging. Contoured to the theater in 1993 by Scott Ferguson, George Keating, and Kyle Hall (book), with a score composed in committee by Lynn Ahrens, Bob Dorough, Dave Fresher, Kathy Mandy, George Newell, and Tom Yoke, Schoolhouse Rock Live! played Off-Broadway for eleven months in the mid-1990's.
Now Rock is on the boards in Los Angeles at the Greenway Court Theatre, and despite an energetic and charming sextet of performers who sing and dance to a four-piece band, the production has some surmountable problems that prevent it from being audience-ready at this time. First and foremost, a distorted sound design (courtesy of Jim Hickcox) prevents us from hearing the words to songs. The players are ebullient, but the inaudibility of lyrics frustrates the conveyance of meaning, particularly for younger theatergoers so prone to ants-in-the-pants syndrome. Further, the video segments (also engineered by Hickcox), so important to the proceedings, were (at the reviewed performance) in a minor state of dysfunction. A time or two a technician was required to walk onstage to adjust the temperamental projection device.
Too bad Director Mark Savage (who also serves as musical director) has not intervened to ensure that such show-busting glitches are eliminated once and for all. Nevertheless, under the poised and fun-filled choreography of Brian Paul Mendoza, the half-dozen cast members exude warmth and good-humor, along with exquisite performing chops.
Eduardo Enrikez infuses Tom, a neophyte school teacher, with dedication and élan. As figments of Tom's anxious imagination, Shulie (an endearing Susan Rudick); Dina (the lovely Elaine Loh); George (a physically pliable Antoine Reynaldo Diel); Dori (an affable Tameka Dawn); and Joe (Chad Borden, loaded with charisma), all lend hyperkinetic characterizations to Schoolhouse Rock Live!. Sadly, their exuberant efforts are undermined by a technologically flawed presentation. Hopefully the director and his crew will learn their lesson (that plays must be easily heard and seen) long before Rock's February 24th closing date. Meanwhile, there's always Sesame Street.
Schoolhouse Rock Live! continues on Saturdays and Sundays at 4 p.m. There's also a 7 p.m. performance on Sundays. The Greenway Court Theatre is located at 544 North Fairfax Avenue, Los Angeles. For reservations, dial (323) 655 - 7679, ext. 100. For more information, visit www.schoolhouserockla.com.
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