The Tribble With Troubles
Rating: 4
Khan! the Musical
KC Fringe Festival
Don't panic. The troubles were only technical. For the most part. Allow me to explain.
Every year, Bryan Colley and Tara Varney create and produce something unique and fun for the fringe. This year, as you might assume, is no different. If there were a better idea for a musical, I can't think of one. Many die hard Star Trek fans believe, and I believe they believe correctly, that The Wrath Of Khan is the best of the original cast feature films. While I'm not going to give away much, I can tell you, it's NOTHING like the film, for which Tara and Brian have my deepest gratitude. I had an absolute blast. I'll admit, I'm not an easy laughter, but the spirit of this show infected me, and I laughed my ass off. It was an absolute HOOT.
That said, I have to talk about stuff I don't really want to mention, but feel obligated to, so that I might keep my delusions of integrity.
The play opens with Jay Coombes as Kirk (Captain James Tiberius Kirk, for those of you who know the underside of a rock better than the original series, and in fact, I'm just going to assume you're a fan too. Starting now.) The technical stuff started in right away. Jay's light cue came up to early and didn't go down again. For quite a while. It was awkward, and I felt only a little bad for Jay, because that guy tends to know how to handle himself. He did, all night, as did the rest of the cast, as one technical difficulty after another presented challenge after challenge for the cast.
Honestly though, none of that mattered in the slightest. The show kept rolling and you can be assured that they will take care of those problems toot sweet.
The staging was efficient and interesting, and the lighting pretty cool. Especially at "Red Alert." and Khan's opening number. The sound mix could have been much improved by lavalier mikes or the like. It's hard to get the mix right when you have no control over the volume of your performers voices. I know that independent theater is tough to finance, but I really hope they can finish the run with some vocal amplification. If I had the stuff to give them, I'd do it.
Okay. That said, on to the individual performances.
Jay Coombes as Kirk. I gotta tell you, I love this man's voice. Especially when he busts out the tenor stuff. It's just lovely and full. Really. I don't know how to evaluate his performance. I mean, this was the kind of experience for me where I was there to love the show, and Jay made it super easy. He kept dropping his phaser and mishandling his communicator (cell phone), but it's not like that kind of thing ruins a play. I mean, he picked it up when it happened. No big whoop.
Kevin Albert as Bones. Bryan gave him a ton of different takes on "He's dead Jim," but he wasn't able to sell them. I don't know if it was me, being slow to absorb most cleverness, realizing the joke after the dialogue had moved on. I don't know if it was he, needing to adjust his timing or use a different tactic. His voice hit the back row, and was on key. Good job I say. And really, he was funny, just the other thing wasn't working for him.
Bob Grove as Spock. I don't know. I couldn't hear him well at all when he sang. I think he sang pretty well. His makeup made me squee with joy, and he managed to maintain the emotionless Spock with the same malevolent charm that Nimoy did with the original Character. What I could hear anyway (Remember, they only made Spock half human because Nimoy is an accomplished actor, and really wanted something emotional to chew on. Can't have Pon Far every week, you know.)
Steven Eubank as Khan. I love what Steven did with Khan. It was hysterical. His costume was great, and his hair. Perfect. Nice big voice too.
Amy Hurrelbrink as Valerie. I know what you're thinking. There wasn't a Valerie in ST-TWOK. Just relax. Go with it. It would ruin it if I explained who in the hell Valerie is, and why she's there. It must simply be, and you must simply trust me. I'll tell you what she's not. She's not a shabby dancer, and she's not one to shrink from a strong, fun character. Her voice is so tiny though, and that room so unfriendly to tiny voices. It got lost sometimes. It's of good quality, just quiet.
The words were brilliantly crafted by Bryan and Tara, and the music, for which there should be MAJOR credit given, was by Tim Gillespie and Michelle Cotton. So great. Just awesome.
Stop "feeding your tribble" and see this one too. Well worth it.
read the review at KC Stage
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