Scientific/Military/Industrial/Academic Complex
The press release called A MOUSE WHO KNOWS ME, a science fiction musical comedy; however, I would call it a satire on the scientific/military/industrial/ academic complex. It is also one of the wittiest, funniest and most topical musicals I have ever seen.
Using humor and catchy music, it takes place in a genetics lab of a university, which like all universities, has to deal with big egos, competitive faculty in-fighting, scientific corruption and less than honorable fund-raising tactics. The plot revolves around two experiments, where one female geneticist, Dr. Lorelei Meadow (the bad girl!) is genetically engineering aggression in mice and another female scientist. Dr. Audrey Whitman (the good girl!) is trying to engineer human empathy in mice.
Using extremely expressive puppets and costumes by Paul Velasquez and Samantha Armitage respectively , the audience hears the mice react to everything around them, with incredible comic effect. The choreography by Allegra Searle-LeBel, although not terribly polished, was hilarious, especially the scenes of mice foreplay, mating and post-coital farewells. The music (Greg Fulton on the Guitar, Chris Monroe on the Drums, Dave Pascal- Bass and Robertson Witmer-Pianist) was outstanding and supported the lyrics well. One thing that was particularly well-done was the way the songs were in very different musical styles, some were like 50’s rock and roll, others were belted. A lot of creativity went into the set and props, set designer Robin McCartney used simple yet highly effective set pieces to create a lab, with imaginative use of lighting, by Tess Malone.
The star of the show is K. Brian Neel, playing Romeo, the empathic mouse who becomes the love interest of Dr. Audrey. He also plays the mousy post-doc in the lab, Dr. Roland Grant, whose unrequited love interest is of course good girl Dr. Audrey. In a production with a number of strong performances, his stole the show and was delightful to watch. He is one of the most expressive comedic actors around with excellent comic timing and facial expressions which kept the audience completely entertained. Tadd Morgan as the aggressive mouse named D29-3, bred by bad girl Dr. Lorelei, performed his songs not just as a great singer, but as a great comedian with superb stage presence. And he was easy on the eyes.
Strong performances were put in by Leilani Berinobis as Dr. Helena Warwick, the dean who is locked in mortal bureaucratic combat with the head of the lab, as well as by John McKenna as Theodore Werner, the evil military funding source. In this show the ensemble did not have lesser roles, they all played many roles brilliantly. The two female leads, Sara Mountjoy-Pepka and Pameala Mijatov could hit the notes but were generally rather bland. The sophisticated wit in their lines and lyrics, had a delayed effect on me; it was only after I had reflected on what they had sung, that I realized that wit had been written into the lines.
Critics usually groan when they are assigned to review world premieres; however, this world premiere is not going to die in Seattle, but I suspect will soon be on Broadway and theWest End. Hurry and get your tickets now, before it gets sold out.
A MOUSE WHO KNOWS ME. Script and Lyrics by Scotto Moore, Music by Robertson Witmer, Directed by Kristina Sutherland. Annex Theatre. 1100 E. Pike St.Pike/Pine Corridor, Capitol Hill,Seattle, 98122. Thurs thru Sat. at 8 pm. Til Nov. 17. NB Mon. Nov 5 is PWYC