By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
That Stephanie doesn’t know what goes into the specialty coffee she drinks every morning is a sign of how disconnected she is from her life.
That she doesn’t notice the uplifting messages the barista writes onto her cup shows how disconnected she is from other people.
The new musical “Common Grounds” tells the story of how she comes to terms with her angst.
The musical, with book and lyrics by Matthew Zwyer and music, book, and lyrics by Luke D. Rosen makes its stage debut this weekend in a TBD Productions show in the Maumee Indoor Theater’s black box theater. The show opens tonight (Oct. 12) at 7:30 p.m. and continues Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. with a Sunday matinee at 2 p.m. Click to buy tickets.
We meet Stephanie (Lauren DePorre) as she gets up and is badly in need of her morning jolt of caffeine and those affirmations from the barista (Sara Ledzianowski) if she’d bothered to notice them or the person who wrote them. In charge of TV and radio accounts at an ad agency, she is struggling at work with the McGillicuddy Insurance spot causing particular difficulties.
When she hears the latest version from the agency’s in-house “girl group,” the Commer-Shelles (Kathy Burke, Annelise Clifton, Sarah Dysard, and Joyce Coutinho) she dismisses it as too cheery. She wants the ad not to be like a hug but like a “punch in the face.” It’s credit to her co-workers especially her assistant Steve (Tai Terry) and her colleague Ashlee (Liz Latta) that they don’t give her just that. She’s sour and brusque and distracted. Ashlee, ever perky and energetic, tries to lift her from her mood, even resorting to tap dancing.
She suggests that Stephanie accompany her to an open mic at the coffee shop where the Commer-Shelles (so named because they all have a ‘”shell” sound in their names) are performing.
Stephanie agrees, and this just snags her into another obsession.
Every week at the open mic Mason (Tajj Crowder) takes the stage to tell stories full of fancy, heartbreak, romance, and intrigue. These stories play out with members of the ensemble taking on the various roles.
There’s a story of a boy (Mason Melia) and his dog (Coutinho) , who is transformed by a magical elixir. There’s the film noir tale set in a French restaurant during Prohibition that involves an alluring chanteuse (Annelise Clifton) with a bad French accent. One tells of two brothers those lives are upended by the Vietnam War. Another tale set in a circus pits a “barbarian” strongman (Durell Johnson) against a female lion tamer (Sarah Dysard).
Each story builds to a climax, then Mason leaves his listeners hanging.
How do these stories end? And why doesn’t Mason end them?
Though others seem to accept this, Stephanie wants the answer, but Mason always slips away before she can confront him. She resorts over time to more and more extreme attempts to stop him, growing more frazzled as she fails.
The setting allows Rosen, who also serves as music director, and Zwyer, who directs, to introduce a cast of quirky characters.
The coffee shop owner Margie (Courtney Rahe) who hosts the open mic, is a diehard musical theater fan, and her favorite is the unproduced “Hello, Again, Dolly!”
We meet Hunter (Andy Dysard) an earnest fellow who aspires to be a singer-songwriter. When asked, Stephanie, unlike anyone else, gives him blunt criticism. The audience gets to hear his song evolve.
“Common Grounds” very much showcases the ensemble, which also includes Lane Hakel, Reagan Otley, Emily Harel, and Warren Clifton. Everyone gets some upfront time. They should hope for an audience as engaged and responsive as the coffeeshop audience they themselves portray.
We do finally get some insight into Mason’s aversion to conclusions. “Common Ground,” unlike his tales, does have an ending, and a happy ending at that.
