Court Theatre has been steadily expanding its stated mission to “re-imagine classic theatre to illuminate current times.”
Even if you define “classic theatre” loosely as “texts from any culture, tradition, or era that resonate throughout time and speak to our present moment,” as it does, the season closer, “Out Here,” the theater’s first-ever premiere of a brand-new musical is, well, way out there.
More of an experiment in form than a fully developed show, it has no connection to anything classic unless you count oblique references and inspirations like last season’s collaboration with TimeLine Theatre Company on William Finn and James Lapine’s “Falsettos.”
Developed in partnership with University of Chicago professors Leslie Buxbaum (concept, book and lyrics) and David J. Levin (concept, dramaturgy) with Erin McKeown (concept, music and lyrics) and the Arts Labs research project at the university’s Neubauer Collegium for Culture and Society, “Out Here” revamps the kitchen sink drama by putting a once and future lesbian at the center of it.
Fifty-something Dawn (Becca Ayers) has a husband, Brian (Cliff Chamberlain), a teenage daughter, Cleo (Ellie Duffey), and a nice two-story house with a band on the second floor. But joy is missing from her life, so one day, she sits Brian down and tells him she wants a divorce.
In the ensuing scenes, Dawn reconnects with Robin (Bethany Thomas), her girlfriend from 15 years ago, and grapples with issues ranging from how to tell Cleo what’s happening to her own indecision about what she’s done. Meanwhile, Brian is crushed until he finds a new flame, Gina (Amanda Pulcini), Cleo more or less takes things in stride, and Robin’s non-binary adult child, Jett (Z Mowry), brings a breath of fresh air.
What registers more forcefully than what’s happening is the self-conscious style. “Out Here” doesn’t just break down the fourth wall — it smashes it to smithereens, conflating real time and stage time in the process.
The approach emerges in the opening number, when Cleo looks out from the family’s skeletal house — cunningly designed by Andrew Boyce and Lauren M. Nichols and colorfully lit by Lee Fiskness — and sees and greets the audience, then Cleo or Dawn wonders if they’re on a neighborhood house walk.
Robin initially appears as a latecomer who is seated in the audience until she recognizes Dawn on stage and engages with her. When Dawn won’t invite her inside the house but asks her to wait, she replies by acknowledging that the so-called neighbor’s yard really is the backstage area. A number for Dawn and Robin called “Courting” even jokes about Court Theatre. Several songs about Dawn being in the closet refer to her literal upstairs closet office, as well as the metaphorical one.
Rather than meeting at a cafe or somewhere similar, Brian plucks Gina from the audience for a date. And when Dawn and Brian need a mediator to work out the terms of their divorce, Martin (Alex Goodrich) helpfully emerges from the band.
Coupled with all this business is the characters’ lack of clarity about when they should be singing about their feelings and when a song isn’t called for. The result is that quite a few songs are only fragments and only one or two are at all memorable, among them Cleo’s rockin’ “Picture Perfect.” On top of that, the simplistic lyrics tend to conjure up the Dick and Jane readers of my childhood.
Directed by Chay Yew, “Out Here” occasionally strikes a chord emotionally, but most of the time, the style gets in the way of the potential substance. I found Dawn’s insistence on controlling everyone and everything annoying and didn’t have any sympathy for the others, except perhaps Brian who seemed to be getting a raw deal for a supposedly valued spouse.
Furthermore, even though Ayers and Thomas are both talented actors and terrific singers, there was no chemistry between them, which made all the fuss about their on-again off-again affair kind of a waste. In fact, I found myself thinking that Court has poured enormous resources into a project that needs a lot more work or, worse yet, isn’t really worth the effort.
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