There was one rather important and defining thing that I did not know going into the production of Hands on a Hardbody (the fourth I have seen in as many years) at the Play Group Theatre in White Plains, N.Y., on Sunday.
Nestled in the downtown shopping district, it is a non-descript, but well-maintained little theater. I actually passed it twice before I found it.
I got there mere minutes before showtime and did not even have time to open the program. The lights dimmed and Ari Davids-Ergas came out as Benny Perkins with his opening monologue.
A bit young for Benny, I thought, but that's no big deal. The top-notch band kicked in with Jakob Reinhardt nailing the Trey Anastasio lick in "Human Drama Kind of Thing", out comes the rest of the cast and...
...Oh my god, they're all kids...
...and they're almost all girls.
That is what I had not known - the Play Group Theatre main stage productions are made up entirely of teenagers.
OK, this should be interesting. There are a lot of talented kids out there, so let's see where they take this.
As they all delivered their introductory lines in the opening number, my mind was spinning in circles as I realized that because of the large number of girls, some roles were gender-swapped. Frank Nugent was now Frankie Nugent, Don Curtis was Dawn Curtis, Jesus Pena was Maria Pena, and almost unbelievably, Ronald McCowan (big, black dude) became Ronnie McCowan (skinny white girl).
Kiki Weiss (as Dawn) showed that a gal singing "If She Don't Sleep" to her mama, Janis Curtis, (played with over-the-top old-lady-isms by the remarkably animated Samantha Schaier) is just as effective as a husband singing to his wife. And Tanya Magana, while absolutely believable in her subtly scathing dialogue as Maria, suffered a bit in "Born in Laredo" from the key being too low for her voice, evidenced by how comfortably (rather than climactically) she sang her final high note. They transposed the key down for Reed Rosenberg (excellent as Mike Ferris) to sing "Burn That Bridge", so bringing it up for Ms. Magana's number should not have been out of the question.
But, holy moly, the biggest surprise of the show came from Sarah Fortinsky, who had the herculean task of transforming Ronald into Ronnie. Amazingly, Ms. Fortinsky owned it as if the part was always hers. Not only does she have serious acting chops, but she infused her rendition of "My Problem Right There" with all the right humor and Southern charm in her fantastic singing voice. From where I was sitting, she seemed to bear resemblance to a young version of Kristen Wiig, with all the sublime talent to boot. After her wonderful spotlight tune, which leads to her character's removal from the story's contest, I was sad to see her go (and thrilled to see her return in the back half of the second act). Ms. Fortinsky is a star in the making.
But she was not the only one with A-game talent. When Taya Bokert stood up on that truck and sang her verse in "If I Had This Truck", I was sold. I cringed a bit when this young girl had to play the sexual overtones of her character Heather Stovall, but I have to hand it to her for digging into it knowing her parents were probably in the audience. Ms. Bokert is a brave young actress with a killer voice.
Also showing signs of immense talent were Maddie Burton, absolutely nailing it as Norma Valverde, and belting her gospel tune ("Joy of the Lord") like a pro; and Florry Arnold, who, despite lacking the plucky moxie of previous portrayals of Kelli Mangrum, always made clear the root of hope and longing in her need to win the truck and escape her dull life ("I'm Gone"). Every time I looked at Ms. Burton and Ms. Arnold, I saw the souls of their characters.
The gents did a fine job, as well, but most were better actors than singers. Mr. Davids-Ergas had every nuance of Benny down pat. As the singer with the most vocal turns, he had to do a lot of heavy lifting, and he was carrying it well until the final number ("God Answered My Prayers"), in which he began to waver. But he wrung every bit of emotion out of the final lines to great effect, even if he was not hitting all the right notes.
Dylan Lesch had a challenging and very grownup role to play in JD Drew, which might be a bit too complex for a teen. When he sang "Used to Be", he landed the melody and the emotion therein, if not the wise-sage gravitas the part requires. Itai Rembaum had a superb vocal turn in the deceptively difficult "I'm Gone" (especially those tricky harmonies) which gave his portrayal of Greg Wilhote all the more heft, so when he finally ran off after Kelli, the payoff worked even if his character was kind of lost in the shuffle for a while.
And while Jonny Tolchinsky was excellent in his portrayal of Chris Alvaro, the hard-nosed Marine, his tune "Stronger" should be a showstopping powerhouse and Mr. Tolchinsky was clearly struggling through it. The kid needs a lot more work on his singing to match the gift he has for acting.
After all, that is what Play Group is obviously about - cultivating the theatrical talents of teenagers. No kid in this production lazily walked through his or her part. No phoning it in, from the small parts (props to Catie Burnell as Cindy Barnes) to the starring roles, these kids are dedicated and that came through during every minute of the show.
Hands on a Hardbody is a character study at its heart. It is no light romp, despite its breezy country-Americana score by Anastasio and Amanda Green. The Music Man this is not. It is a play mostly about adults and their real adult issues. It was a bold choice for a kids' theater production, but Jill and Steven Abusch and all the staff and teachers and crew, clearly had a lot of faith in their young actors to pull it off.
