Perfect Harmony

Photo/Jim Baldassare

The only thing Perfect Harmony is missing is the perfect harmony: unfortunately, that MAJOR problem makes a lot of other MINOR issues into a bigger problem, and ultimately, makes the KEY of the whole show FLAT. (The musical puns, incidentally, are capitalized so as to better emphasize how an inconsistent tone can make something clever into something that's far too obvious.) Getting past all of that, though, I'm glad to see that Andrew Grosso is keeping this play, a favorite of mine at the '06 Fringe, alive: I just wish that it had grown. The original was built through collaboration and improvisation with the actors, and the lack of synergy with the mostly-new cast (square pegs in round holes, save for a few exceptions) shows. Still, the concept itself is clever--and vital: the cheery atmosphere tries to do for a capella what 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee did for spelling bees. If only every section were as polished as Lassiter's doleful medley of pop songs.

[Read on] [Also blogged by: David]