(Title of Show) is a based-on-real-life meta-comedy cataloging the painful and often random creative process. Written by Jeff Bowen and Hunter Bell in just three weeks, the musical tells the story of Jeff and Hunter writing with the hopes of making it into the New York Musical Theater Festival, and down the line, onto a Broadway stage. Taking its name from the first prompt on the festival application, (Title of Show) premiered in 2004 and moved off-Broadway before eventually hitting a Broadway stage in 2008. Directed by Jay Españo with music direction by Robert Ollis, Pride Arts has staged a production of the spirited show that perfectly captures its hodge-podge aesthetic and slapstick humor. With just four cast members, four chairs, and a pianist center stage of the apartment set, the writers collaborated with two actors/friends to make all their dreams come true. The set is simple, but there's plenty of magic made within these walls. (Scenic design by Anshika Pathak, lighting design by Aidan Smith, and props by Izadorius Tortuga.) (Editor's note: Apologies for our treatment of the show title, which should begin and end with brackets, rather than parentheses, but our web software doesn't recognize text between brackets.)
Casey Coppess. Photo by Candice Lee Conner.
Of course, there are plenty of bumps along the road. The players are all working menial jobs to pay rent, with the exception of Heidi (Shannon McEldowney) who can get by with small parts on stage. Susan (Lexi Alioto) is working a sell-out corporate job, but she lends her humor and array of accents to the brainstorming sessions, making her an audience favorite. Heidi has a classical approach to musical theater but is tired of getting lost in the crowd, and their idea of creating her own character has given her life new meaning. In Hell’s Kitchen New York, Jeff (Jonah Cochin) and Hunter (Casey Coppess) exchange calls and voicemails about inspiration, frustration, and procrastination, as they struggle to conceptualize an entire musical before the festival’s submission deadline.
Jeff and Hunter butt heads as they correct each other’s grammar, call out inconsistencies in their own blocking as they write/perform the show, and say things like, “We could put this exact conversation into our show” and “What if this dialogue was set to music?” Musical theater lovers will get an extra kick out of the script’s appreciation for the art that has come before it—especially in the scene where Broadway playbills from the last hundred or so years are projected on the set while the characters sing a song entirely composed from musical titles. They announce key changes and pitchy moments as they happen, talking directly to the pianist on stage (though union rules are unclear on whether Larry’s allowed to speak or not). There are also plenty of subtler allusions to musicals of the past through the choreography by Britta Schlicht.
Susan and Heidi represent major bright spots in the show. They sift through the inherent competition they feel as two women cast in a musical. They sing, “It’s hard to share the lady spotlight,” and ask, “What kind of a girl is she?” However, they bond through singing together and decide they're best friends by the end of the song. Heidi and Susan hit their marks on every joke and their soprano and alto tones, respectively, are a major coup when layered on top of Hunter and Jeff’s chords. The vocalists are collectively super talented, and only a few testy moments befall the pair of actors playing Hunter and Jeff. The production's only standout flaw is a common one: the pacing. Though the players joke about saving cliffhangers for the nonexistent second act, the story was told in one 90-minute-long breath, and the pacing might have benefited from an intermission.
The true brilliance of (Title of Show) is in its messaging: it tells the audience that each of us has a story to tell. It gives us a rock ballad to combat our inner critic and feelings of worthlessness: “Die Vampire Die.” The vampire in question is “The person, feeling, or thought that is standing in the way of your creative expression.” And though it’s tempting to try and please everyone when we tentatively let our art out into the world, these players find that fitting the mold doesn't necessarily mean success. They boast that they’d rather be “nine people’s favorite thing than a hundred people’s ninth favorite thing.” This production may just be Chicago audiences' new favorite thing.
(Title of Show) is playing through September 22 at Pride Arts Center, 4139 N. Broadway. Tickets are $35 with $5 student and senior discounts available. Purchase tickets at www.pridearts.org or call 773-857-0222.
For more information on this and other plays, see theatreinchicago.com.
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