Tonight, or I suppose technically it was last night, I attended a workshop and stage reading of a new musical in the works from Keith Hovis commissioned by Trademark Theater. I haven’t attended a lot of staged readings, my schedule is usually so full with shows to allow for it. I am so grateful I attended this one. I’m not going to review the show here, this is a work in progress, though to my mind it’s ready now to be fully mounted. But I do have to write something because it’s after midnight and I’m so excited by what I just saw that I’m not going to be able to sleep until I get something out of me. Hovis, who wrote the book, music, and lyrics has created something very special here. It’s the sort of show that’s hard to categorize because it’s more than one thing. First and foremost, it’s hysterically funny. Secondly, it’s a musical without a single dud or time filling song, every single one is memorable. But it’s also social commentary, representation, raunchy as hell, and moving. In short, it’s genius. But more important than what it is, is how it made me feel. I can only describe the feeling of being in the room when this display of creativity, humor , and humanity was happening as feeling fully alive. This is the feeling a theater junkie like me is always chasing. We feel lucky if we feel a quarter of this feeling, it’s so rare to have this strong of a reaction, and this was just a reading. Wow.

There are two downsides to an evening like this, I can rave all I want about it, but if you weren’t there, you missed it. I do this because I want to share experiences like this with you, faithful readers, and until they stage it I can’t. The second problem, and there are honestly only a handful of times this ever happens, this cast is so good, that any cast other than this will never be able to measure up. I can only think of two examples of other shows that have had that effect on me. The first was one of the shows that led to The Stages of MN’s creation, and that was Hedwig and the Angry Inch featuring Trademark Theater’s Founder and Artistic Director Tyler Michaels King as Hedwig and Jay Owen Eisenberg as Yitzhak. The other was a a musical called Interstate that opened at Mixed Blood in March 2020, only to be closed early due to the Covid pandemic. I saw both of those three times each, and wished I could have seen them more. I went back, bringing new people each time because I know that live theater exists as it’s happening. Once a shows run ends, it’s over. The next production will be something different. I’m so excited by what I just saw and I’m so sad that I cannot bring you with me to see it again tomorrow night or next weekend. I have no doubt that Trademark will mount this and I’d be very surprised if we didn’t see it in their 2025-2026 season. When it comes, I’ll remind you that this is a moment that you don’t want to let slip away. My greatest hope is that this cast returns as I’m going to have a very difficult time picturing anyone else in these roles. Everyone of them is perfectly cast, they brilliantly mine every line for maximum effect, it’s rare to hear an audience laugh out loud so much. It is almost non stop laughter, but there was one particularly moving moment. Towards the end, Em Adam Rosenberg sings a song that is so eloquent so moving and so beautifully sung, that they had not only me in tears, but also some of their fellow cast members. It’s a moment I wish I could have shared with my son George, it would have connected for him. I hope I get a chance to share that moment with him in the future.

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