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Regional Reviews: Washington, D.C. Soon Also see Susan's reviews of Man of La Mancha, Freedom's Song: Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War and The Originalist
Blaemire, who wrote book, music, and lyrics, focuses on a young woman named Charlie (Jessica Hershberg) in her seedy but sweet Lower East Side apartment. Outside temperatures are at record highs, the electricity comes and goes, and it appears that global climate change will bring about the extinction of humanity in a matter of months. Sure, Charlie could leave her 24-hour cable news and her pet goldfish (his name is Herschel—he's Jewish) and go to her job at a bakery but, she figures, why bother? On the other hand, Charlie's friends and family are determined to get her off the couch and back into life, for as long as it lasts. Her roommate Steven (Joshua Morgan) doesn't let the threat of destruction stop him from going to fabulous parties, her mother Adrienne (Natascia Diaz) reminisces about the "Bohemia Paradiso" of her youth in New York before she moved to the suburbs, and her on-and-off boyfriend Jonah (Alex Brightman) struggles to understand her. Time moves back and forth, and maybe a little sideways, as the story unspools. The 90-minute musical starts slowly, but gradually the tension builds; Blaemire's tuneful songs don't leave room for applause when they end. The inspired interplay among the fraught Hershberg, genuinely nice Brightman, slightly manic Morgan, and self-absorbed Diaz never lets up, with subtle but constant support from four offstage musicians. Dan Conway's scenic design brings the audience into Charlie and Steven's compact apartment; interestingly, the two bedrooms are offstage but the bathroom is in full view. Brian Tovar's lighting design washes everything in hallucinatory colors, a disconcerting effect enhanced by Matthew Haber's projections and Lane Elms' sound design. Signature Theatre
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