Howard Barnes is a downtrodden everyone. He has a simple, if depressing, philosophy: “Life is cubicles and colonoscopies.” So of course, his life is made into a musical comedy.
Not by his choice, of course; in fact, it happens overnight. Howard goes to bed after watching the NY Rangers lose yet another hockey match that he barely cares about, and before he knows it, he is awakened by music that, seemingly, only he can hear … and which compels him to sing about hid day.
Is there a girl? Of course there is; in fact there are a handful of old loves with whom he has broken up. The primary of these is Grace, who dumped him two years earlier as he proposed marriage to her, and whose marriage announcement to someone else is now arguably the trigger for the music. More importantly there is Maggie, a HR worker at Howard’s company, who has caught his eye — and he hers — though neither one has been brave enough to act on the attraction.
Now, in typical musical theatre fashion, the two are shoved together as Howard seeks help for his affliction while Maggie is an endless trove of information on musicals. They set out in search of the acclaimed Von Schwarzenheim — who is acclaimed by himself as much as anyone else — in the hope that this rich scion of musical theatre can break Howard’s curse and return his life to the blah normal it had been.
This is the story, in outline. Yes, there incidents as they search, both visions and nightmares on the “F” train, and an epic confrontation with Von Schwarzenheim once they have assailed his castle-like home. Yes, the construction is “mysterious” — I mean, who the heck has their life become a muisical? — and generally flash-bang humorous from start to finish.
But that finishes, to my taste, when Von Schwarzenheim announces that he can help; all he needs is a pie made out of the person who wronged Howard.
Yes, a pie made out of a person. Ugh. There may be literary roots, but they are decidedly not musical theatre in nature. Hermann Hesse or Edgar Allen Poe seem more likely sources.
Suddenly, everything seems to go downhill for the audience. First, Grace conveniently shows up manipulating a puppet of herself, which howard decapitates. So much for reluctance to make a pie, especially when a recipe for exactly such drops from the “sky.” Then, on returning to Von Schwarzenheim’s palace, Howard and Maggie finally deduce that it is their savior who has orchestrated the whole thing. Howard rebells and seeks an exit of his own, finally even breaking the fourth wall of theatre as he and Grace have it out in a front-row shouting match. Yes, it seems that even as we’ve watched Grace on stage, she’s been a part of the audience watching the whole thing transpire. (“What good is a show without an audience,” someone asks, missiing the whole poing that, by then, the question is, “what good is an audience without a show?”)
Don’t get me wrong; the first hour-and-twenty-minutes is fast-paced and richly funny as the playwrites pick fun at a myriad of musicals and musical theatre in general. That part is well-conceived and well-done.
Unfortunately, the show runs an-hour-and-thirty-five minutes.
With false ending after false ending, “The Noteworthy Life of Howard Barnes” seems to struggle to redeen relevance and depth from what had merely been a vacuuous fantasy. It’s as if Shakespeare suddenly decided to append the final act of “Romeo and Juliet” to “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” — not only does it not fit, it comes out of nowhere and hits the audience square in the face.
I enjoyed the humor immensely. Had the first false-ending stood, the show would have been a lot of fun But then there’s that pesky trip through the Twilight Zone at the end …
Well, I wouldn’t stay away; the humorous rush of things up to the first ending is worth the trip. Maybe, just plan on leaving early or leaving with a bad taste in your mouth.
The Noteworthy Life of Howard Barnes at Village Theatre. At the Frances J. Gaudetter Theatre in Issaquah through October 21, moving to the Everett Performing Arts Center from October 26 – November 18. Box Offices: Issaquah 425-392-2202; Everett, 425-257-8600.