Remember back in ye olden days when you made mix-tapes filled with your favorite, most meaningful tunes for your first same-sex crush and he/she loved the music just as much as you did? Todd Almond certainly does. The acclaimed playwright is such a fan of the perfectly-crafted power pop songs on Matthew Sweet’s hit 1993 album Girlfriend that he was inspired him to write a stage musical bearing the same title and wonderfully illustrates that intense, post-adolescent desire to kind a kindred spirit. Set in small town Nebraska in 1993, Almond movingly charts the relationship of two young men during the summer following their high school graduation. Mike (Curt Hansen) is a popular jock, who in a switch from the usual way this scenario goes, is the one who offers the compilation of his most-cherished songs to the lonely outsider kid, Will (Ryder Back), and the two begin a sweet, sometimes awkward relationship.
“I think the show is joyous and a celebration of being in love with somebody, whoever that person is,” Les Waters, who has directed productions of the show since it premiered in 2010 at Berkeley Rep, told Queerty. “You carry those albums from your teens and twenties through the rest of your life.”
While sentimental gays of a certain age will find the show a heart-tugging nostalgic fantasia, it’s just as relatable and enjoyable if you’re young and straight and have never even held a CD in your hand.
“People who’ve been brought up in small towns identify with it very strongly,” Waters informed, but added that there’s a broad demographic in the audience. “All these young kids are coming to see the show. It’s a show about sexuality and realizing all the great things your body can do when you meet the right person.”
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One standout element in the production is the use of an all-female band that plays live upstage behind the actors.
“I made a decision that the band would be all women and they’d be older than the two guys,” Waters noted. “There’s a sense of them saying ‘We’ve been there and worked it out so come on guys, catch up.’”
The show is being performed at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Los Angeles through August 9. Scroll down to see a few photos from the production.
Photos by Craig Schwartz
level75RDM
Why? Why is it always a “popular jock” and a loner?
Howard Lau
Tyler this looks interesting
Paul V. Vitagliano
So so good! And a reminder on just how great that Matthew Sweet album was/is!
jwtraveler
@level75RDM: Good point, but it seems like a sweet idea and just the kind of thing that is needed for young gay people. I hope the producers make it affordable for those young people to see it.
Jody
@level75RDM: Because those are “archtypes”, characters easily understandable by a large majority of people. There are other archtypes, but “person on the inside loves person on the outside” has been a very popular way of telling a story for a long, long, time.
mz.sam
I saw this show during its first week opening…it was fantastic! It takes place in small town Nebraska at a time without smartphones or social media. This show does Matthew Sweet’s exuberant and heartfelt music justice, and totally rocks with the band performing on stage as a third character behind the actors. Actually not only one is experiencing a musical play but also a live rock concert of sorts. Highly recommended.
Tyler Tingley
Can we can we can we
Theonewhoismany
I mean, why bother to create characters. It is so much easier to create archetypes.
martinbakman
This is a f&ckingh awesome show. Laugh, cry, smile…
Too bad it ends a week from Sunday. Get your azz in a seat and see it.
Straight, gay, young, old. Everybody enjoy it!
wpewen
I can remember being 18 and mostly out. I can remember getting it on with at least one guy from high school, and others I met in LA who were in my age cohort. I can’t recall at all it being like a musical. A lot more low key than this. No way would any gay guys I’ve known identify with this, if you do it’s great, but to me it’s just one more example of why more than a few young gay men go “huh?” when they encounter the culture represented here.
Bacchus
This is such a cute musical! A great date-night event! Highly recommended! Their voices are very good – although Wil’s is not very strong until he is harmonizing – then they are both very good.
martinbakman
@Bacchus: Exactly. The harmonies! And the girl band rocks!
mz.sam
Remaining excellent viewing seats still available…but going fast!
SteveDenver
How fresh and new: two handsome young white guys meet and fall in love. Talk about shattering stereotypes… and an all-female band to boot.
martinbakman
@SteveDenver: A rock musical like this has never been done before. The setting is 1990’s Alliance Nebraska, based on Todd Almond’s own experience growing up there. But it will resonate with anyone. I sat next to a married couple that probably went to high school 50 years ago, and the wife seemed quite moved.
Brian Johnson-Frazier
No… Not it most certainly is not.
Jacob23
“I made a decision that the band would be all women and they’d be older than the two guys,” Waters noted. “There’s a sense of them saying ‘We’ve been there and worked it out so come on guys, catch up.’”
– This explains why the band members are older than the characters, but it doesn’t explain why he went out of his way to make the band all-female. Is he saying that gay boys are basically like girls so the elders to encourage them would be older women? If so, the f*ck him and this show.
Also, those actors look like they are in their late 20s not their teens. And it is unrealistic to have the popular jock serenading the unpopular loner. That doesn’t happen IRL.
bigrawtop
Thanks for the info. I’m going to go!