Playwright: Riley Thomas. At: La Costa Theatre Company, 3931 N. Elston. Phone: 866-468-3401 ( TicketWeb ) ; $20. Runs through: March 16
Six people are stuck on a Red Line subway train. By the time the train rolls again, they've poured out their hearts in song and they move on to their destinations and futures a little bit wiser and kinder. Sounds sweet, and it is, but Stuck isn't very good.
For starters, the little platoon of passenger is strictly by-the-numbers: pretty DePaul girl, sullen Goth youth, homeless man, pregnant young woman, janitor sending money home to his kids and middle-aged woman. They are white, Black and Latino, according to predictable stereotypes. The author attempts to explode stereotypes by making them all reasonably intelligent, but they're as predictable as they are trite. Stuck also is guerilla Christian. Guerilla because it doesn't tell you that's what it is, but its we-can-do-better, love-is-great, God-has-a-plan attitude is clear enough in Act II. Stuck is the work of a very young artist who does not yet have deep life experience or sophisticated playwriting skills.
That young artist is Riley Thomas, who wrote the book, music and lyrics, directed the show and conducts the four-piece band from the keyboard. As a musical theater composer/lyricist, Mr. Thomas needs a much better director and co-author. That is to say, on the good side, he's a talented composer and obviously a decent musical director; for his tuneful songs and lyrics and a strong-voiced cast are the only things Stuck can boast about.
His pleasant and accessible music is derivative of various jazz-influenced pop and theatrical styles, but derivative doesn't mean imitative. Thomas also is a forceful master of rhythm and tight harmony. His lyrics, too, contain surprises as when Goth Boy reveals his fundamental self-loathing by singing, 'I'm buried under me, Under piles and piles of who I thought I should be.' Without question, the songs are enjoyable but the scenes between them border on unendurable.
Serving as his own everything, Thomas smartly has chosen six capable and attractive singers ( although, as many young directors do, he's cast several actors too young for the roles they play ) . Jennifer Knox ( Pretty ) , Peter Oyloe ( Goth ) , Samara Smith ( Pregnant ) , particularly buoyant Terry Price ( Homeless ) , Jesus Martinez, Jr. ( Janitor ) and Jeanne T. Arrigo ( Middle-Aged ) deliver the songs with conviction and earnestly plow through the dreary book. If you like talent, they may be reason enough to see the show, as is the promise of Riley Thomas as a composer.
But hear me, Riley: unless you are Noel Coward, you must never direct the world premiere of your own musical. La Costa Artistic Director Jonathan Hymen has not done you a favor by letting you do it. Don't let ego trump talent. Your only foci should be book, music and lyrics.
