Mall-Mart, The Musical

Reviewed by Holly Bartges

Tracing the history of the super mega-store from 1942 to 1962, Mall-Mart The Musical written by playwright Joan Holden marks the eve of Curious Theatre Company’s 10th year anniversary at the Acoma Center.

Megan Van De Hey and Marcus Waterman in Mall-Mart, The Musical. Photo by Brian Kraft

Under the direction of Chip Walton in collaboration with the University of Colorado at Boulder’s Department of Theatre and Dance, Mall-Mart features a live combo on an intriguing utilitarian set designed by Bruce Bergner and a cast of 13 artists.

Mall-Mart begins in Small Town U.S.A. with the beginning of WWII following the ambitious go-getter going-to-be-successful-no-matter-what Walt Samson played by Brad Evans who also plays Dexter Pigeon.

By necessity, to cover 20 years in a two-act play, each act occupies 10 scenes plus epilogues promoting the “Saturday Night Syndrome.” Although definite scenes, they are more in tune with sketches with a deliberate beginning, middle and end all to themselves. The Saturday Night Syndrome feeds off s ketches beginning with a great and funny idea only to get lost in its own complexity running a sketch that should be worth 60 seconds into five minutes of over time.

Five main actors play 12 plus different roles providing some confusion at times as to whom is who. Although the costumes designed by Markus Henry are stunningly appropriate for the time period, some of the actors appear to rely on the costume changes to distinguish the characters rather than emphasizing the unique characterizations.

One actor sticks out exhibiting his immense artistic expertise. Marcus Waterman not only plays John Benton, but John Kraft, Father, and a Pharmacist providing distinct physical and vocal characteristics.

The CU Production Coordinator, Bud Coleman designed the choreography. Whether some of the dances are beyond the ability of the ensemble, or they weren’t given enough rehearsal time is up for grabs, but on opening night dancers were out of sync leaving the impression of painful awkwardness of dancers either trying too hard or not hard enough.

Following the history of the development of the super king size store Mall-Mart wants to demonstrate the enticement of the American public to buy and then buy some more. It appears to be a truth that the public has a difficult time passing up a bargain, buying items they either don’t need or already have one or two just like it.

However, it is difficult to say which came first the chicken or the egg. Encouraging people to buy on credit reaches back to the end of WWII when credit was established. Do the super stores create the want or has America already established the hunger for possessing? Mall-Mart the Musical takes the stance the super sized store created the want. Keeping up with and surpassing the Jones’ stretches a long arm back into history. It was already a common phrase in the ’40s and the ’50s.

Be that as it may, with humorous and over exaggerated characters, Mal-Mart runs its course with a live combo and canned music. Ironically, one of the first things the ears pick up is that the sound for the canned music is far superior to the live combo. The canned music in between scenes has a richer tone than the live combo under the Direction of Michael Tilley. Although great fun to watch the musicians with their flair for musical tempo the combo leaves a tinny sound hanging in the air.

Although the title implies musical, the production is more like a play with music. There aren’t enough songs included to classify it as a musical, and definitely no songs one would remember to sing or even hum on the way home. Some of the music from the live combo underscored scenes that begged for a song but were denied the lyrics.

Most of the singing voices are indeed powerful, except when female artists are asked to sing the too high notes out of their range creating rippling shudders up and down the spine.

Mall-Mart The Musical presents a great idea that drags on too long, too few actors playing too many roles, too many scenes that drag out the point creating restlessness and boredom giving the impression of a script that begs to be tweaked, that was produced before it was ready.