Playwright: Music and lyrics by Paul Scott Goodman, book by Miriam Gordon and Paul Scott Goodman. At: Broken Nose Theatre at the Flat Iron Arts Center, 1579 N. Milwaukee Ave. Tickets: 479-774-3429; www.brokennosetheatre.com; $15-$30. Runs through: Aug. 11
Music, of all the arts, may be the most effective at conveying emotionas human beings, we hear sounds before we see objects, and only much later do we recognize words. So if you're going to tell a romantic story, music is the logical medium, and a two-character musical renders the narrative even more efficientsince don't all lovers exist in a universe wholly focused on themselves?
The lovers in Paul Scott Goodman and Miriam Gordon's minimalist song-cycle are a pair of Glaswegian youthssullen working-class Ian, bunkered down in his room strumming angry social-protest melodies on his guitar, and wholesome privileged Monica, whose father declares her "Glasgow's answer to Barbra Streisand." On the recommendation of a classmate, Monica appeals to Ian for help in writing a bat mitzvah song. This leads to the Catholic lad being invited to his co-composer's home for a Shabbas celebration, where Monica proposes that they style themselves a punk-New Wave duo (this is the late 1970s, by the way). First prize in a local contest takes them to London, and from there, to America and a gig at New York City's CBGB.
Oh, but the course of love and success needs its obstacles, too. Not for nothing is the show's physical action built on 90 minutes of opening and closing doors (hence the title "Rooms"). Ian has a drinking problem, and Monica has an eating disorder. The latter also appears not to have heard of birth control, even in 1977, with the sexual revolution well under way. Chafing under conflicting career goals, Boy and Girl part company after a disastrous (but typical for the era) U.S. debut, only to reunite years later, healthier, wiser and ready to essay the uncertain path of intimacy towards a lasting contentment.
What makes this well-worn formula enjoyable is that director Benjamin Brownson and vocalists Matt Deitchmann and Hillary Marren attack their score with a full-throttle ebullience to awaken vivid memories of our own once-impetuous ambitions, their powerhouse vocals catalyzed by piano-man/music director Austin Cook and his stageside band. On a balmy summer night in Wicker Parkat one time, headquarters to the ripped-fishnets-and-safety-pin coterie to which Ian and Monica aspirewho can resist the optimism of a high-velocity anthem proclaiming, "All I Want Is Everything?"