Review: Cancer: The Musical written and performed by Montana von Fliss. Produced by Washington Ensemble Theatre. Directed by John Osebold.
Montana von Fliss’s current solo show at WET, Cancer: The Musical, is your typical WET production: original, edgy, moving, sometimes exasperating, and impeccably designed. No other theater company in the city matches them when it comes to what they do best, and no other small budgeted theater company is able to make the most of what they have, (not much money; a tiny theater space in an odd part of town; big, creative talented artists) and create original, imaginative works of art. Cancer: The Musical isn’t a perfect show; like many solo, autobiographical works it teeters off, on occasion, into The Land of Self-Indulgence, but Ms von Fliss is talented enough of a performer and writer to keep the show on track. It is, in turn, flippantly funny, emotionally moving, a little bit trite and cliche, and finally, bittersweet and cathartic. It’s a bit of a roller coaster, and not for all tastes, but the raw power, emotion and charm of Ms von Fliss makes for a captivating 80 minutes of theater.
But, as mentioned in the headline, the title is a bit of a come-on. Yes, it’s about cancer, in the sense that the protagonist of the story that Montana von Fliss is telling us, her father Peter, is diagnosed with liver cancer and given a very short time to live, but the piece is really about loss, or, as Ms von Fliss tells us early on in the show, LOSS…the all caps, painful as hell kind of loss encountered with the death of someone you are very close to. And, the show is not so much about her dad Peter, and his death, but about the reactions of his daughter to his death and how it affects her and how she copes with that loss. Montana starts out the show as a crisp, efficient, lab coated, slightly officious medical scientist laying out her hypothesis about loss, and what she hopes to scientifically and categorically learn about it, but gradually real emotions and feelings and reminiscences begin to break through the professionally chilly facade and the real tale begins to emerge of the last days of her dad, and how she coped with that very human event. Ms von Fliss’s performance was strong during this section; subtle and moving, and as the story becomes more and more painful, her emotions and her memories and her performance become rawer and honest and painful and telling. For me, it was the strongest part of the show.
Not as successful, for me at least, was the musical section of the piece. Two thirds of the way through the show, there IS an extended solo musical sequence, meant to convey the pain and anarchy and confusion that Montana feels after her father dies, but the metaphor, and the performance, was a bit heavy handed. It seemed a little too obvious a choice to make, for this performer and writer, and for me, it felt like an audition tape moment meant to showcase the versatility of the actress. If they wanted to go the musical route, I think they should have gone MORE theatrical and Show Biz and even channeled a bit of their previous production, the excellent RoboPop! and maybe even brought in some other dancers/singers as backup. For me at least, the music either needed to be much grander, or much smaller; the in between just seemed a bit fake. But, the mood and style does change after the musical interlude, and Ms von Fliss wisely ends the show on a bittersweetly, hopeful note that might not be some people’s cup of tea, (I won’t give it away, but if you are averse to audience participation, do NOT sit in the front row), but I’m a bit of a grouch and I liked it and I WAS sitting in the front row! I left the theater not really any wiser because I have unfortunately already learned the lessons that Ms von Fliss had to learn (both my parents are gone). And her ultimate message that LOSS is painful and difficult and hard but eventually, after about a year, you can overcome it and prosper again isn’t really anything we haven’t already learned from either personal experience, or countless episodes of Oprah, but the telling of her story was moving enough to warrant another reminder. Worth checking out for theater goers interested in personal, emotionally moving stories.
Cancer: The Musical continues Thursdays through Mondays, now through June 21 at 7:30pm at Washington Ensemble Theater, 608 19th Ave East. Photo Credit: Laurie Clark/WET
-Michael Strangeways
About the Author: Michael Strangeways
