John and Jen, Chapel Off Chapel, Saturday September 26th 2015

John and Jen,  Chapel Off Chapel, Saturday September 26th 2015

"John and Jen" the musical by Andrew Lippa and Tom Greenwald was presented by Pursued By Bear at Chapel Off Chapel.

This small scale musical is large on an emotional scale.

"John and Jen" was directed by Mark Taylor with Production Designs by Sarah Tulloch. The orchestra was led by the Musical Director Tyson Legg.

Musically the orchestra of Stephen McMahon on piano, Dave Greg on percussion and Sophie Anderson on cello were superb. They played with sensitivity to the varying themes for each song that progressed the story.  Gladly they did not smother the singers by playing too loudly.  They had a lovely balance which is so rare in some musicals.

The two actor/singers did an admirable job with the material.  Brenton Cosier played John and in Act Two added other characters, with Jaclyn Devincentis as Jen.  They both sang and acted well with the rare flat note.  This was totally forgiveable as it was a huge sing for two singers sometimes singing against some tricky accompaniment.  Yes there may have been a rare scoop onto a note and again this was forgiveable as I enjoyed their performances.  I have been less forgiving with others who do not engage with the audience with such warmth.

The music and lyrics can be a little too similar at times.  Their diction was clean and I could understand every word - unlike other musicals where I struggle to understand some lyrics.  They both have a lovely tone to their voices.  Brenton Cosier has a rich tone while Jacylyn Devincentis has a a very pleasant and appealing warmth to her voice.  It was terrific to hear when they both had to belt a section that they did not yell like some other singers.  Congratulations to both performers for this aspect of their singing as I have heard many singers yell and scream at this venue.

Emotionally the journey for both actor/singers is taxing.  It was especially rewarding to hear Jaclyn Devincetis's maturity of Jen as she aged and portrayed the mother role with sincerity.

Direction wise the space was too cramped.  This is a major problem in the Chapel Off Chapel theatre whereby the action is pushed forward so far downstage that the people in E Row and beyond struggle to see the downstage action.  They could either rid the front row and allow more room for the stage or push the front of the staging area back one metre.

There were problems with the set design with the door on stage right.  The actors had to be so careful not to bang into the main set piece on stage right for entrances and exits.  The same spacing issue made the argument at the end of Act One unconvincing due to the staging and space limitation.  The final moment of Act One was destroyed when poor Jen had to wriggle her way around the main "coffin" to exit through the door.  Sadly this exit destroyed her honest finale line.  Maybe a black out and sneaking out the back could have been considered an alternative end to Act One.

The main problem with the set design was the intrusive and dominance of the tree house like structure on stage left.  I liked the idea as it looked child like and as if it was a puppet on strings.  It also gave the image of a safe haven.  Though it could have been pushed up stage further to give the actors more room.  The show gave the audience a crick in the neck with most action either centre stage or stage right.

The best part of the stage design was the two trucks with doors to store props.  The funniest moment was during the "Talk Show" segment when doors revealed appropriate props.  It was as if we turned on the television and switched stations.   This was a one off joke that could have been repeated for added effect upon the reprisal of the scene.

Musically the score gets a little tedious due to the sameness of many of the songs.  I thought more lightness was required to give depth to the darker emotions.

My favourite parts were the orchestra and most of the singing.

I look forward to seeing these fine performers again in the future. Particularly for their ability to create an ageing journey for characters.

Programme notes:  I cannot understand why so many productions do not print the year of their production on their posters and programmes.  Take a look in the foyer at Chapel Off Chapel and see how many posters do not carry the year of production.  It is great to see those posters that do have a year in which it makes it historically more accessible.

I loved the beautiful photo of both performers used in the poster for "John and Jen" and was disappointed this image was not used in the programme.

When I purchase a programme I expect some basics.  These include the cast list, the production details and the background information on the writers,  Sadly there was no background information on the composer, lyricist and book writer.

I also expect a song list for a musical.  I understand that this might be a little old fashioned but hey do not charge me $5 for a programme that is just self congratulatory with spelling errors!   Yes education was misspelled as "Edcation".  No excuses for proof reading.

They also missed out on an opportunity to sell the cd of the show either at the theatre or via an advertisement.