Ordinary Days

More |

Ordinary Days

at South Coast Repertory

Reviewed by Dany Margolies

January 14, 2010

Photo by Henry DiRocco

This is not the first musical, nor will it be the last, about finding beauty and meaning—and, perhaps most important, human connection—in ordinariness. In this West Coast premiere, Adam Gwon tells his story primarily through solos or duets by four people in their 20s and 30s, living in New York City, their lives intersecting on Saturdays at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Warren walks the streets to hand out fliers that bear sayings someone else has written, and yet this gives him a sense of purpose. As Nick Gabriel plays him, Warren is sprightly and almost childlike in his optimism and insistence on making a new friend. Deb is a blindly driven grad student trying to finish her thesis on modern literature. Deborah S. Craig plays her as comedically brittle, a nervous wreck. Jason and Claire are a couple unsuccessfully moving in together. David Burnham makes Jason a heartbroken romantic, while Nancy Anderson carefully reveals Claire's defensiveness.

As much as Gwon and the actors do to flesh the characters, Angela Balogh Calin's costuming likewise quickly paints a picture. Warren wears tight apple-red jeans: He is giddily flamboyant. Deb is wrapped in dull-colored layers: She is tightly wound. Jason and Claire play dress-up: Neither is completely in touch with what's going on "inside." Unfortunately, these characters are not the most appealing people, and ultimately we're watching the self-absorbed trying to control the self-deluded.

But director Ethan McSweeny creatively delivers a mobbed yet lonely New York, and his staging helps differentiate and give variety to the songs. Music director Dennis Castellano provides the pleasing onstage piano accompaniment—although somehow, someone failed to get the best vocal work out of the performers. Fred Kinney's high, shallow set lets us feel we're on a narrow New York street or in a cramped apartment, augmented by Jason H. Thompson's hilarious projection design.

Even at the 80 minutes running time, we're taken on a circuitous path to the upshot. But when it finally comes, it's as potent as those of the iconic musicals in which art is a metaphor for everything right with life, or in which New York is a metaphor for everything wrong with life.

Presented by and at South Coast Repertory, 655 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa.Jan. 8–24. Tue.–Fri., 7:45 p.m.; Sat.–Sun., 2 and 7:45 p.m. (714) 708-5555. www.scr.org.