Signature’s Kid Victory (Review)
Signature Theatre's new musical "Kid Victory" asks too much of its audience
Toward the end of John Kander and Greg Pierce’s new musical Kid Victory, hilarity ensues. We get one verse of a silly song — an improbable jingle, “Matchstick Men,” written for a fictitious gay hookup site and taking playful aim at the site’s most frequent users. Next, we’re treated to a hysterical and totally unexpected tap number featuring the show’s full ensemble — which springs from a hookup between the show’s lead boy Luke (Jake Winn) and his light-on-his-feet date (a winsome Parker Drown). “What’s the point of living if your feet are never tappin’?” the gang chants as they dance their way to a climax.
Directed by Liesl Tommy, Kid Victory is a dark show, focused as it is on the struggles of a troubled boy and his pious parents in rural Kansas to reconnect after he went missing and suffered abuse for a year. But other than a few scenes with a quirky young woman Emily (a likable Sarah Litzinger) the show doesn’t offer many moments of levity, much less humor. So to put the two truly funny numbers back to back near the end of the show — a two hour show with no intermission — is a lot to ask of an audience.
Further testing the audience, lyricist Pierce opts for a very atmospheric, evocative style, which despite being graceful can also make it hard to relate to his characters, chief among them Luke. We know too little about what Luke is thinking, feeling or even wanting.
There are some genuine moments of sparkle and finesse in Kander’s music, a fair amount of mood-lifting choreography by Christopher Windom, and designers Clint Ramos on set and David Weiner on lights add some depth to the show via the large, lit photographs of Kansas wheat fields that envelop the stage.
Obviously Kansas can be a desolate, isolating place, but the metaphor should only be taken so far in a musical
To March 22 at Signature Theatre, 4200 Campbell Ave., Arlington. Tickets are $40 to $95. Call 703-820-9771 or visit signature-theatre.org.
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