"[title of show]" - by Hunter Bell and Jeff Bowen - Nashoba Players (Westford, MA.) - REVIEW
!["[title of show]" - by Hunter Bell and Jeff Bowen - Nashoba Players (Westford, MA.) - REVIEW](https://files.cdn-files-a.com/uploads/2537359/2000_671e4aab373c4.jpg)
(Cover Photo: The CAST of "[title of show]" by Hunter Bell and Jeff Bowen from Nashoba Players in Westford, MA. through November 2, 2024. Photo Credit: Jason Ho @slopar_charger)
By Kevin T. Baldwin
METRMAG Reviewer
# 774-242-6724
“I’m blank paper - your blank paper - make me say something else. I’ll say whatever you want me to. Just put your pen to the paper and write!”
- ("Blank Paper") / Hunter Bell and Jeff Bowen
The Nashoba Players
Presents
"[title of show]"
Music and Lyrics by Jeff Bowen
Book by Hunter Bell
Directed by Ken Golner
Music Director Kathryn Denney
Choreographer Melissa Lynch
Stage Manager Nyk Fischer
Cast Includes: Jonathan Touchette as “Hunter,” James Haupt as “Jeff,” Jen Antocci as “Heidi,” Karissa Vincent as “Susan,” Bryce Denney as “Larry.”
Additional Creative Team:
Assistant Stage Manager - Meaghan Rafferty; Props Master/Lighting Board Operator - Tim Fischer; Sound Design - Chris Cooper; Lighting Design - Matt Valeri; House/Box Office Manager - David Sowerbutts; House Assistant - Amy Newberg; Program - Nyk Fischer, Melissa Lynch; Phtography Jason Ho, Koda Mehalba.
Performances:
October 25, 2024 through November 2, 2024
(Contact Box Office for Exact Times)
Parish Center for the Arts, 10 Lincoln St, Westford, MA 01886
TICKETS:
Cabaret Seating. All Tickets $25.00 General Admission (Including $2.50 Fee)
Available online at:
https://nashobaplayers.org/shows/current/intro/
BUY TICKETS
COVID 19 PROTOCOLS
Contact Venue for Most Updated COVID-19 Safety Protocols and Information.
Nashoba Players in Westford presents the aptly titled show "[title of show]" and is a unique theatre experience in that it is a musical of the story of its own creation.
The Nashoba Players’ production takes place on a completely bare stage with only four chairs for its four performers and a keyboard stage right for their accompanist.
"[title of show]" is a one-act musical (no intermission) that features an interesting original concept thanks to its book by Hunter Bell along with music and lyrics by Jeff Bowen.
The Nashoba cast of four (and their accompanist) gels, appearing to be having an immensely fun time performing the eccentric material.
Since debuting in 2004, "[title of show]" has gained a staunchly loyal following over the years due, in part, to a video diary about the show's actual journey to Broadway called “The [title of show] Show.”
As art imitating life imitating art (etc.), the show chronicles its own creation as an entry in the New York Musical Theatre Festival.
We see all the hurdles the author and composer/lyricist and their two actress friends – i.e. the Nashoba cast of Jonathan Touchette as “Hunter Bell,” James Haupt as “Jeff Bowen,” Jen Antocci as “Heidi” and Karissa Vincent as “Susan” - during a brief but intensive creative period.
The quartet is supported by accompanist Larry, played by Bryce Denney who is literally the Nashoba cast’s accompanist, although Larry does also engage in some humorous exchanges with the others during some scenes.
(Photo: James Haupt as “Jeff” with Jen Antocci as “Heidi” left, and Jonathan Touchette as “Hunter” with Karissa Vincent as “Susan” right in a moment from "[title of show]" by Hunter Bell and Jeff Bowen from Nashoba Players in Westford, MA. through November 2, 2024. Photo Credit: Jason Ho @slopar_charger)
"[title of show]" was conceived by friends Bowen and Bell during the spring of 2004 after Bell received an announcement for the inaugural New York Musical Theatre Festival.
During many scenes, the Nashoba actors amusingly call attention to the fact that we are watching a re-creation of a re-creation of the events of the show’s creation.
There are also many now-dated references, many revolving around Broadway theatre, specifically musicals.
If you consider the time period - Stephen Schwartz’s “Wicked” had just become a Broadway juggernaut while Stephen Sondheim’s “Merrily We Roll Along” was still considered his most notorious flop.
Now, in 2024, Sondheim’s former flop just won a Tony Award for Best Musical Revival while Schwartz’s “Wicked” is now a soon-to-be released two-part motion picture.
In the group number, “Monkeys and Playbills” the quartet sings about many other musical flops (personal disclosure: I literally own many of the “flop” cast recordings noted in this number – so while I “got” the song’s clever construct, I know many others probably will not).
Under the fine direction of Ken Golner, there is great attention to detail in "[title of show]," even down to using the actual playbills seen in the above-mentioned musical number.
"[title of show]" originally was chosen for production by the Musical Theatre Festival and premiered there in 2004 in New York City.
But before this, as the show begins, we are transported back to 2004 where, with the deadline just three weeks away, Bell aka “Hunter” (Touchette) begins drafting the script with Bowen aka “Jeff” (Haupt) writing the lyrics and music, as conveyed in the show’s first three numbers (“Untitled Opening Number,” “Two Nobodies in New York” and “An Original Musical").
Together, Touchette and Haupt have great chemistry as the writing team.
Their exchanges always seem to reinforce their staunch camaraderie, even though, of the partners, Hunter tends to engage more in literary flights of fancy, while Jeff is the more pragmatic writer of the duo.
(Photo: The CAST of "[title of show]" by Hunter Bell and Jeff Bowen from Nashoba Players in Westford, MA. through November 2, 2024. Photo Credit: Jason Ho @slopar_charger)
As a result of the severe time constraints to get something ready to showcase at the Festival, Jeff and Hunter quickly put themselves, Larry (Denney), Heidi (Antocci) and Susan (Vincent) all under great pressure.
However, this pressure ultimately leads Jeff and Hunter to the realization that THIS creative process is the concept that would ultimately become the show "[title of show]."
Respectively, Touchette and Haupt are wonderful portraying (“embodying?”) the real Bell and Bowen who became determined to write an original musical rather than adapt an existing play or movie.
During their collaborative process, the writing team soon discovered how their conversations about what to write were actually more interesting than what they were trying to write.
After the actual Festival, "[title of show]" would ultimately run Off-Broadway in 2006 then did make it to Broadway in 2008 where it ran for 13 previews and 102 regular performances.
"[title of show]" received a 2006 Obie Award Special Citation and, in 2009, received a Broadway.com Audience Award for Favorite Ensemble Cast.
The original "[title of show]" director Michael Berresse, Bowen and Bell all won Obie Awards for their collaboration on the Off-Broadway production, and Bell was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical.
(Photo: Karissa Vincent as “Susan” stands on a chair behind Jonathan Touchette as “Hunter,” Jen Antocci as “Heidi” and James Haupt as “Jeff” in a moment from "[title of show]" by Hunter Bell and Jeff Bowen from Nashoba Players in Westford, MA. through November 2, 2024. Photo Credit: Jason Ho @slopar_charger)
The show opens with a musical number, "Untitled Opening Number" basically setting up the premise of the musical.
The opening number, as with the other songs that follow, give the feeling of a "Forbidden Broadway" style of musical comedy - very small, very intimate and occasionally very silly.
And, to be clear, there ain't nothing wrong with that, if done well, and it is done well here.
As the idea to document the creation of the show itself ("a musical about two guys writing a musical about two guys writing a musical") becomes clearer, Bell and Bowen expand the script basing much of it on their collaborative experiences with performer friends Susan Blackwell and Heidi Blickenstaff.
In actuality, the writers seem to have given the superior songs to Susan and Heidi, while Hunter and Jeff seem to be featured more prominently in the scenes consisting mostly of dialogue.
The above could be because Bell and Bowen considered themselves more as writers than performers, but that is just speculation.
Standout solo numbers for Antocci as Heidi include “I Am Playing Me” and “A Way Back To Then” while Vincent as Susan joins in with Heidi on “What Kind of Girl is She.”
(Photo: The CAST of "[title of show]" by Hunter Bell and Jeff Bowen from Nashoba Players in Westford, MA. through November 2, 2024. Photo Credit: Jason Ho @slopar_charger)
The musical numbers are well executed under the music direction of Kathryn Denney and supported onstage by the accompaniment of Bryce Denney.
The choreography by Melissa Lynch is exceptional throughout.
Since its debut, "[title of show]" has evolved into an ongoing "work-in-progress," with updates and changes to each new production reflecting the circumstances the cast and the show have experienced.
However, this production feels very rooted in its “origin story” and, if you can accept that it is a product of its time, then you should find "[title of show]" completely enjoyable.
"[title of show]" continues in Westford until November 2nd, 2024.
Tickets are available online at:
https://nashobaplayers.org/shows/current/intro/
BUY TICKETS
Approximately one hour, 20 minutes with no intermission.
Kevin T. Baldwin is a member of the American Theatre Critics Association (ATCA)
@MetrmagReviews
@Theatre_Critics
ABOUT THE SHOW
"[title of show]" concerns Jeff and Hunter, two struggling writers, who hear about a new musical theater festival.
However, the deadline for submissions is a mere three weeks away.
With nothing to lose, the pair decides to try to create something new with the help of their friends Susan and Heidi (with Larry on the keys).
With the cast in place, Jeff and Hunter begin a conversation about what to write about.
Eventually, Jeff suggests they write about what to write about.
They make a pact to write up until the festival's deadline and dream about the show changing their lives.
"[title of show]" - taken from the space on the festival's application form which asks for the "[title of show]" - follows Hunter and Jeff and their friends on their journey through the gauntlet of creative self-expression.
In the span of 90 minutes they write and perform their show at the festival and learn lessons about themselves as people, friends and artists.
"[title of show]" is, above all, a love letter to musical theater - a uniquely American art form - and to the joy of collaboration.”
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ABOUT THE NASHOBA PLAYERS
NASHOBA PLAYERS is a dynamic, non-profit community theatre that has been dedicated to providing cultural enrichment through live theatre in drama, musicals and comedy to Westford and surrounding communities. THE NASHOBA PLAYERS home stage is at the Parish Center for the Arts at 10 Lincoln Street in Westford, MA. It is an intimate and inviting venue where THE NASHOBA PLAYERS offers cabaret seating for shows. Each season offers three or more performances which include drama, comedy, musicals, and sometimes a whimsical tongue-in-cheek melodrama or an elegant dinner theatre experience.
10 LINCOLN STREET
WESTFORD, MA. 01886
