Understudies: A New Musical

Floppy Fish Performance Co.—MTC Mainstage

The first thing I noticed about this show is that they’re mic’d, and unfortunately there was a lot of static from the mics. On occasion I could hear them whispering to each other backstage through the mics, which really took away from the performance.

The worst part, though, was that even with microphones, the band was louder than the singers, which made soloists really hard to hear, and group songs painfully loud.

It’s a shame because it seemed like there was probably decent action and jokes in the songs, but I couldn’t hear most of them.

The exposition was delivered dryly, and there were one or two strong actors, but overall it felt awkward and flowed poorly. The romance was forced, the action didn’t make any sense, it was hard to follow, and overall just wasn’t as funny as it was trying to be.

There is potential in the script, but it feels more like a first draft than a performance ready piece.

Arden Pruden