Review: Shine: A Burlesque Musical. Produced by The Wet Spots, Theatre Off Jackson and The Seattle Erotic Art Festival. Music and Lyrics by Cass King and John Woods, (aka, “The Wet Spots”) and Mark Growden. Book by Cass King, John Woods and Sam Dulmage. Directed by Roger Benington. Choreography by Inga Ingenue. With Cass King, Mark Waldstein, Adra Boo Green, Gemma Isaac, Scott W Abernethy, Anna Allen and John Woods. Show ran at Theatre Off Jackson July 8-18.
There are Good shows in TheaterLand that you are so pleased to be able to rave about and there are Bad shows in TheaterLand that you are equally pleased to pan to save the public from having to fork over their hard earned money and endure their atrocities. Then, there are shows that you wish you could really like because the people involved in them are so nice and earnest and charming and full of good intentions but you can’t because the material simply doesn’t live up to that laudable intent. Shine: A Burlesque Musical is just such a show…it has a tarnished little heart, populated by a couple of cute songs, some impressive costuming and set design, frequently inspired choreography and a cast with a lot of charming moxie and nerve but what it doesn’t have is much of a plot and what plot there is, was recycled from a hundred other backstage musicals. There’s nothing wrong with wringing the last bit of life out of a hoary (or, in the case of Shine, “whorey”) old plot but if you’re going to use the tried and true, you have to at least put a fresh spin on it. Shine is a contemporary musical about a down on its heels burlesque theater in New York City that feels like it was created in 1975 for a 1965 audience. It’s “naughty” in a not very naughty sort of way and while the show makes a point to mock the commerciality of the traditional Broadway musical, this show takes the form of a standard Broadway musical with the same format, outline and song structure and stylings of a traditional Broadway musical circa 1965. I think Shine has aspirations to be as hip as Urinetown: The Musical that both apes and mocks the cliches of the musical but it comes across more like an amateur production of “Oh Calcutta”, the asinine but hugely successful sex revue that ran for years and years based on the “naughtiness” of its content and some rather revolting nudity …Like “Calcutta”, Shine likes to THINK that it’s shocking and daring, but it’s not showing us anything we haven’t seen before and in better circumstances. The charms of the cast and creators can’t make up for this downfall, no matter how hard they shake their ta-tas and grind those pasties.
On the plus side, the tata shakers and pastie grinders are pretty endearing. The dancing and production numbers are nicely choreographed by the very experienced Inga Ingenue. The costumes are very well done and the set, by the director, Roger Bennington, is simple but handsomely effective. Gemma Isaac and Scott W Abernethy as the young love interests, are sweet and talented young actors but their characters aren’t given enough to do; their B plot is never fully established or realized and the show is hurt because of this. Newcomer Adra Boo Green was brassy and bold enough as the resident sex bomb/star of the burlesque theater but her songs all seemed to be the same, and she also wasn’t given enough to do, which raises the question, WHO is stealing all the focus and attention from the other characters in this show?
The main culprit would be our leading lady, Cass King playing Shine Mionne the owner of the fading burlesque house, and not coincidentally also the creator and writer for this musical. Ms King gives a lively performance as the bawdy, drunken, trashy but with a heart of gold lead character but she’s made the common mistake of giving her character TOO much time on stage, to the point where you get a bit sick of Shine by the end of the show. She needs to let the other characters breath a bit more so we see less of Shine and make the audience yearn to see that character return to the stage. But, I do have to point out that King, and the rest of the cast and the show itself WAS a big audience pleaser on the night I saw the show. I also have to say that the audience on the night I attended the musical seemed to be largely comprised of folks from The Center for Sex Positive Culture (the folks behind the Seattle Erotic Art Festival and one of the presenters of this production) and the lusty, hearty swingers in the audience were enthusiastic supporters but not the most unbiased of critics. And, I’m equally convinced that the long term success of this show cannot be guaranteed by the S/M, polyamorous, swingers crowd. True, there’s a lot of lusty such folk out there, but I don’t think there’s enough to guarantee any long runs at the Off Off Broadway theater nearest to you…unless, they get Lindsay Lohan to play the ingenue and Courtney Love to play Shine. That would be a trainwreck worth paying $54.50 for a ticket…
One last beef: the tinny, pre-recorded backing music was AWFUL and the Theatre Off Jackson is NOT the ideal location for any sort of musical entertainment. The acoustics and sound system are not very good and detrimental to any such production. A live orchestra would probably have been cost and space prohibitive but it would have aided this production immensely.
Shine closed on Sunday, July 18 but continues its run at the New York Fringe Festival August 13-29.
-Michael Strangeways
About the Author: Michael Strangeways
