A Review

Once Upon Another Time . . .

By R. J. Donovan

"Zanna Don't," the first production of Speakeasy Stage Company's Fall season, is a musical fairy tale.  It has nothing to do with "Xanadu" the movie.  It has nothing to do with "Xanadu" the new Broadway musical.  But it does have everything to do with magic.

Set in a high school in the alternative-universe town of Heartsville, USA, "Zanna Don't" is the light-hearted story of a gifted match-making teen who wants all the world to be in love. 

The twist is that in this particular story, gay is the norm. 

The champ from the Chess Club is a high school hero while the Captain of the football team is an also-ran.

As director Paul Daigneault pointed out to me when we spoke about the production a few weeks ago, that fact that everyone is gay doesn't mean the show is heavy in pink triangles and rainbow flags.  There's no need.  This is a land where gay is the way it is. The norm. Accepted. As it should be.

The conflict comes when two of the characters turn out to be straight. And in tipping the plot upside down, the resulting themes of tolerance, discrimination and isolation unfold with a new outlook that's neither forced nor preachy.

The show takes a dark turn later on, and there's something a little too convenient about one section near the end, but overall "Zanna Don't" is bright, tuneful and very funny. 

Tim Acito's book is actually pretty conventional, which is why it works so well in telling its unconventional story.  It's also filled with zippy, self-aware humor as well as several satirical nods to other musicals.

This is really an ensemble show and Daigneault has assembled a cast of young performers who give it their all.  Zanna is played by Boston Conservatory senior Jordan Fife Hunt.  The central male couple is played by Andrew Durand and Jaime Cepero III.  Durand does a particularly nice job as the "outsider" high school jock while Cepero makes the poignant "I Could Write Books" his own.  The central female couple is played by Stephanie Umoh and Anich D'Jae.  Umoh has a great personality but she rushes too many of her lines, dropping jokes as a result.  All four join for the touching "Do You Know What It's Like." 

In multiple roles,  Bud Weber is very funny as the school DJ, Gillian Goldberg is the hyper-prissy prom organizer with nerves of steel and D. J. Petrosino is a gifted chameleon, especially as a doozy of an oozing cowboy.  The latter three sparkle in the machine gun tongue-twister "Fast."

Everyone scores with the big production numbers, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (a controversial salute to straights in the military) and the all-girl intramural mechanical-bull-riding country-western hoe-down, "Ride 'Em."

"Zanna Don't" originated through a workshop at Yale in 2001 and opened off  Broadway in 2003.  Tim Acito is currently at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta where he's working on the world premiere of his newest musical, "The Women of Brewster Place."

Like all fairy tales, "Zanna Don't" delivers its required happy ending, while SpeakEasy delivers a energetic production that bodes well for the rest of the season.

"Zanna Don't" is at The Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont Street in Boston, through October 13. For information, call 617-933-8600.

Production Photo: Mike Lovett

-- OnStage Boston

09/21/07

 

 
 
 
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