Some productions rejuvenate your appreciation for theater by stripping it down and letting you focus on its two essential parts, the story and the characters. Double Vision, a wild and smart musical now playing at the Edge on Broadway, is the kind of wacky joy ride that generate lots of grins, and an occasional groan, as it follows a group of millennial strivers trying to steer themselves to fulfillment and success.
Building the play on an unconventional framework, where comedy driven science fiction gets overlaid onto a musical, meant the audience had to pay close attention if it wanted to extract the story’s maximum goodness. That challenge seemed to add to the play’s entertainment quotient.
Nerds abound. But you would be hard pressed to find any more capable of sneaking up and stealing your affections as effectively as this crowd. Pivoting around Luke Sheridan (Ryan Frenk), an astrophysics doctoral student struggling with his thesis project, Double Vision opens in tension. He’s sparring with his advisor, River (Ethan Carlson) about the slowness of his progress. Vacillating because he doesn’t trust his own abilities and fears the ramifications of failure, Luke’s crisis of confidence has him stymied. Success would mean recognition and research funding for his wormhole, a portal that allows you to travel through both time and space. His device isn’t as sophisticated as the alchemist’s in Ted Chiang’s lean and wonderful, The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate, but it looked and sounded impressive. And advanced enough to have fellow student and clandestine rival, Marty (Brian Pember) practically quaking in jealous alarm. In the same doctoral program for nine years, Marty may be slow in achieving his goals but he’s still willing to take drastic measures to insure he’s not overshadowed by his frenemy.
How these characters are portrayed and filling the action with comedy contribute immensely to Double Vision’s enjoyment. Most of them are ordinary in the sense they’re going through the growing pains typical of ambitious students. A few are quite extraordinary because they seem so blissfully unperturbed by their sexuality or in Marty’s case, his sexual ambiguity. When Luke tells Sierra (Gina Martin) that he thinks Marty is attractive, it’s merely a statement that she doesn’t necessarily agree with and portents nothing about how Luke and Marty interact on a personal plane.
A corresponding story about another person struggling to succeed is happening on the other side of the stage. Obsessing over a script she hopes will make her literary name, Sam (Stephanie Fongheiser) teeters uncomfortably close to an ugly implosion. It has her sister Vanessa (Nina Jayashankar) worried; but Vanessa has her own problems. Distracted by convulsions in her romantic life, her attentions are decidedly divided. It’s both incidental and inconsequential that the lover’s she’s fretting over is another woman.
Frequently spoofing popular culture and iconic references to it like Star Wars and the indelibly ingrained “Luke, I am your, father”, the wit’s often wry and sometimes tinged with the sweeter side of sarcasm. Much of the music and lyrics is engaging and appealing. Luke’s Another You and the Sierra and Vanessa’s duet, Shot in the Dark, are two pieces that stand out. But it was River’s Literal Space Opera solo that constitutes a wee tour de force. Uproarious, absurd and delightful, and sung with sonorous clarity; Carlson seemed to revel in his rendition as much as the audience.
Gina Martin’s role as the level-headed Sierra made the tale of self-discovery and traversing multiverses more grounded and helped to lend balancing gravity to the lightness of the comedy. In many ways, a faultless performance. Frenk’s portrayal of Luke was an impressive and refreshing take on the notion of the steadfast protagonist.
Following their purpose to bring new musicals to the Chicago stage, this production of Double Vision is presented by Underscore Theatre Company. The company also sponsors the Chicago Musical Theatre Festival; a venue where young playwright’s like Olivia Popp, who created and wrote the script, music and lyrics for this entertaining romp, can present their work.
Double Vision
Closes February 22, 2020
The Edge Theatre
5451 N. Broadway
Chicago, IL 60640
www.edgetheater.com
