There is a saying in the theater: A bad dress rehearsal means a good opening night. But what does it mean when everything seems to go wrong on opening night?
Dominion Stage tried to offer an answer after its opening night Friday at Theatre One in the Gunston Arts Center. Community theater group Dominion frequently mounts fine productions – especially when the show is small and intimate like “Mass Appeal” and “Agnes of God.”
The musical comedy “They’re Playing Our Song” is small and intimate by the standards of its genre, with just two main characters and a chorus of only six. It has a single, uncomplicated story – just the sort of show that Dominion Stage should be able to do.
It may be that they will have a fun show on their hands when all the problems are worked out, but opening night was just a series of painful misses, technical glitch after technical glitch that worked against the best efforts of the musical’s cast. Over the next two weekends, they still have six more performances to overcome the opening night jinx.
In the lead roles, Dan Harrel and Kristin Jepperson are certainly capable enough to provide a genuinely good time for the audience. Harrel plays a successful composer of popular songs, the winner of two Grammies and an Oscar.
Harrel was delightful and charming the last time he appeared in a Dominion production, another small and intimate musical comedy, “She Loves Me.” At the opening of “They’re Playing Our Song,” he seemed to be on his way to creating another notable role.
But his microphone turned on and off throughout the evening, and flubbed lighting cues denied him time to shine. He sang the first half of the opening song “Fallin’” with no amplification at all, and when the microphone was finally activated, it screeched to life in a frenzy of feedback. He sang the opening notes of that song’s reprise in the dark, before walking into the spotlight.
As a one-hit wonder lyricist, Jepperson tries to lure Harrel’s character into a collaboration. She has proven herself capable of carrying a show and selling the big numbers, especially when she appeared as the Princess in “Once Upon a Mattress” at the Lazy Susan.
Jepperson has a strong belting voice that can handle the extremes of this score. She certainly proved it with her character’s big number “I Still Believe in Love.” But on occasion, she dips too far down in volume for softer segments, making it difficult to hear all of the lyrics.
This may again have been the problem caused by a faulty amplification system. Jepperson was so over-miked it was difficult to say how well she was doing. Certainly, her rendition of the soft ballad “If He Really Knew Me,” which called for no belting at all, was as lovely as could be wanted.
She was not helped along by the costumes she had to wear. The program did not credit a costume designer. Instead, it listed The Dominion Stage Design Team for “Costume Coordination.”
One running gag in the show is that Jepperson’s character dresses in old costumes from closed plays to save on money. Thus, her “wardrobe” had to be a bit unusual, sporting things from “Pippin,” “Little Red Riding Hood” and a play by Chekhov. But they needn’t be as unflattering as some of the clothes that Jepperson wore on opening night.
Director Hans Bachmann also has a track record that would indicate his ability to stage this light comedy piece as a real charmer. Recent productions of “42nd Street” at the Ernst Theater in Annandale and “Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up?” at the Lazy Susan have shown that Bachmann has a fine touch for light comedy.
At Gunston, however, he misses much of the musical’s quirky charm.
In the second act, a scene in which Harrel’s characted plinks out a tune on a toy piano should be a sure-fire charmer. Instead, Bachmann’s staging was so awkward that it failed to work its charm, and the toy piano was turned away from the audience, so that half couldn’t see Harrel’s face.
Bachmann may have been spread too thin to spend any more time on direction. He did triple duty as director, set designer and choreographer.
The choreography was fine, with some nifty steps in the title number. His set, however, served to undercut any attempt to keep the show moving along briskly, which is important in a light piece.
With over a dozen scenes in almost as many locations, the ability to switch set pieces rapidly was crucial. Perhaps the crew, including the chorus members, will find ways to make the changes faster.
On opening night, however, the changes between scenes dragged on interminably. Bachman chose to have these set changes performed in semi-darkness rather than closing the main curtain. This simply resulted in the audience watching the work going on onstage, and realizing just how much time was going by. Some transitional scenes could have been staged in front of the main curtain, while set work went on behind it.
With more practice under their belts, the team on this show may tighten up the scene changes, get the sound system working properly and allow the cast to concentrate on the performances. Then they may have a pleasant show for the audience. As it was, the final moment of the evening seemed to exemplify the entire night. The cast stepped forward for their curtain call, only to have the sound system erupt in feedback.