North Shore Phoenix

You’d think the monsters of junior high school couldn’t be as horrible as the ones in senior high, but of course they are.  In the wistfully charming production of Trevor the Musical now playing at the Writers Theater in Glencoe, they steadfastly do what monsters do and try to destroy a kid because he’s “weird”.

Trevor, beautifully played by Eli Tokash, handles the onslaught valiantly with chest out and pride high like a little Superman deflecting verbal scatter.   But, as the saying goes, even steel melts, and he eventually succumbs to the wrathful torment of public shaming.  Don’t worry.  This is not a sad story.  It’s one of hope, defiance, and the magic of youth.

A lot of Trevor’s hutzpah is driven by his dream of being a performer.  One that can do it all; act, dance and sing exquisitely enough to make the rafters tremble with delight.  Just like his idol; Diana Ross.  Her pictures plaster his bedroom wall and like a true fan, he not only knows her songs, he knows her musings.  When Ross sings “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”, he knows she’s talking to him.  In this production, the great Ross herself is wisely a main force in the musical which uses a fistful of her stunning hits as the play’s bedrock.  Salisha Thomas slathers the role with charisma and luminous voice.

So how old are you in junior high; thirteen, fourteen?  You’re discovering another dimension of self that can be a little terrifying.  You’re looking at the people around you with eyes that are more pruriently curious than innocent.  And all of this happens when the world begins to demand more conformity to the universal norm.  What do you do when you don’t, or can’t, fit the norm?                                          

Trevor isn’t really there yet.  He’s nudged to sexual awakening by his best friend, Walter (Matthew Uzarraga), who’s convinced his sperm is stronger than Trevor’s and wants to prove it under a microscope.  Moving with the energy of a purposeful cyclone, Uzarraga’s Walter was a shining light of acting splendor.  He had plenty of company.  Equipped with a girlie magazine and a mission to get Trevor as revved up about it as he was, Walter’s consternation at Trevor being more interested in the guys in the back of the book shutters with adolescent outrage.  But he doesn’t reject.  Naively, he thinks he can help redeem his friend.

The problem is that Trevor can never be what he’s not.  When a girl likes him, he can’t like her back in the same way; as we see when Cathy (Tori Whaples) makes her move.  A socially precocious young lady with pigtails, glasses and braces, none of that stops her from going after her man to predictably unsatisfactory results.

But the real danger lies in more treacherous waters.  Boy on boy crushes are very nearly as taboo in 2017 as they were 1917.  If one was to not only be discovered; but have his passions broadcast throughout the entire school, the results can be fatal.  Hence the true intent of this romp of music and dance and Broadway on the north shore spectacle.  To scream, words can kill.

Trevor the Musical makes its point.  To some it may not have made it dire enough, poignant enough or real enough.  New awareness at any level is still thought provoking.  LGBT kids and young people do attempt suicide at rates markedly higher than other youth.  They inflict pain on themselves and suffer emotionally at equally dismal rates.  Trevor the Musical, mainly through song, hints at that agony.  If that hint is enough to engender empathy, then it is enough.

Trevor the Musical

Aug 9 – Sept 17, 2017

Writers Theatre

325 Tudor Ct.

Glencoe, IL

https://www.writerstheatre.org/trevor-the-musical