Trying to Break in

Many condemned to perusing my screeds over the years conclude that I hate musical theater. Certainly, I've offered ample evidence for this view, but the fact is that good musical theater is one of my guilty pleasures. To be more precise, it's the music of musical theater that I cherish, as my ample LP and CD collection attests (from a 78 of Gershwin's Funny Face with the Astaires to my quickly worn Hedwig disc). Yet is there anyone who avidly collects the books of musicals? For every Brecht, Anderson, Comden and Green piece, there are a thousand wretched scripts that wouldn't live without lyrics. It's about words and music. Without one, the other fails--that is, until the original cast recording is released.

The new producing team Triple Threat (Ernie Casciato, Shawn Rogers and Greg Tamblyn) hopes to launch new musicals in Portland that might spark interest elsewhere in the theatrical universe. Their latest, Your Lucky Break, is a musical comedy set around a fictitious game show of the '60s, where, rather than naming that tune, you sing it.

Unfortunately, as it now stands, Your Lucky Break won't be anybody's. It's not that the piece hasn't charm; it has. But it's a charm born from naiveté and obsolescence. The problem is primarily with the book, which offers crêpe-thin characters, stock shtick, and the type of wincing earnestness that hasn't been heard since George M. Cohan. It's as if Lucky's creators lived in a vacuum, unaware that the conventions of this sort of musical have been so mercilessly sent up in Dames at Sea and, more recently, Urinetown as to render revival foolhardy.

Is this project salvageable? Certainly. The premise isn't bad--a singing game-show contestant who becomes a celebrity and is brought down, finally, by hubris. And some of the original songs are quite good (all composed by Karl Mansfield). Rogers' lyrical contributions dutifully find rhymes but little else, but the songs by Barrie Nedler and Matt Miller (especially "One Day," beautifully performed by Adair Chappell) demand a better book. Even the first number by the team, "Sing," suggests wit that never materializes.

The performers tirelessly pump blood into the play's cardboard people, but desperation soon sets in. Susannah Mars as the contentious contestant again falls into the trap of wondering, "What would Barbra do?". It's been three years, and she still hasn't quite shaken her Funny Girl role. But she does have the work's one good running joke, which concerns Doris Day's "Que Sera Sera." The dependable Leif Norby takes on multiple roles as a one-man festival of hits and misses. His French restaurateur is amusing, though his truck-driver character is rather embarrassing. Scott Parker as the game-show host Ward Champion would probably be effective, if you could interpret his speech. The rest of the cast speaks all too clearly.

An excellent if cumbersome set by Glenn Gauer, fine costumes by Margaret Chapman and the technical skills of Drew Flint and Jen Raynak add to the fantasy of "what might come." Until then, however, I'll content myself with a 45 of Chappell singing "One Day."

Triple Threat at the World Trade Center Auditorium, 121 SW Salmon St., 224-8499.

8 pm Fridays- Saturdays, 2 pm Sundays. $20-$23+ advance (Fastixx). Closes March 3.

WWeek 2015