The Boy Detective succeeds...mostly

One of the many things that's awesome about Signature Theatre is its habit of taking chances. They're opening their current season with not one but two new musicals--and in rep. Last night I saw The Boy Detective Fails, which is the story of Billy Argo, who, with his younger sister and best friend, solved crimes when he was growing up. He went off to college, his sister killed herself, and he wound up in a mental institution for 10 years. The musical is the story of what happens to Billy when he leaves the mental hospital and tries to figure out what drove his sister to suicide.

The best thing about this show, by far, was the cast. Two of my favorite DC actors, Stephen Gregory Smith and Evan Casey, were in it--Smith as Billy Argo and Casey as one of the people Billy sent to prison, among numerous other parts.

(I'm not really sure why Casey keeps getting cast as villains. I saw him in Camelot as Mordred and Little Shop of Horrors as Orin, the dentist. Don't get me wrong--he's fabulous in those parts. But he also does comedy very well and is a cute guy. I want to see him as a non-villain!)

Smith was absolutely fantastic as Billy; he carries the show on his back. He believably portrays both 10-year-old Billy and 30-year-old Billy. His mannerisms are fantastic. He transforms from being stilted to learning to live and interact with the world and the numerous bizarre characters with whom he comes in contact. His emotions just come through on his face and he's incredibly likeable.

I was very impressed with the ensemble. The majority of the cast plays numerous roles throughout the show; some, multiple times. (Evan Casey had to transition from "Generic Townsperson" to "Killer Kowalzavich" and back very quickly quite a few times in the show.) And there are some great harmonies throughout the show that were super impressive. I really didn't feel like there was a weak member of the cast--made more impressive by the fact that almost all of them are also currently in The Hollow.

I wish I were as impressed with the songs and the script. Another nemesis of Billy, Professor Von Golum, has two songs...that seem largely to say the same thing. I loved the two songs with Billy's love interest, Penny--"As Long As You Are Here" and "I Like (The Secret Song)"--but the rest largely made no impression. The show was 2 hours and 20 minutes, and not all of the songs in the show were necessary. I'm sure that there were a LOT more songs that were in there, but not everything in the book has to be in the musical.

And the story...I don't know. The plot itself intrigued me. I got the book the show is based on out of the library because I want to know more. The problem is that I feel like I have a lot of unanswered questions and I want to see if the book provides insight. I feel like the story resolved itself awfully quickly; I'm not entirely sure how the characters wound up where they did. Why did that character make that decision? Does that character think another has actually changed--or is he or she just hoping for the best? Has that character actually changed? I feel like the show would've been better served by taking out one of the Von Golum songs and spending that time fleshing out the end of the show.

Is the show worth seeing? Definitely. The cast is great, the plot  and Signature should be rewarded for putting this show on. It could use some tightening, but was still a great way to spend the night.

Snape, Snape, Severus Snape

Anglophenia, a BBC America blog, did a tournament of favorite British actors. The worst stage for me was when David Tennant went head-to-head with Colin Firth. Just mean. Anyway, the final was between Colin Firth and Alan Rickman. Alan Rickman won.

Look, I love Alan Rickman, but to me, Mr. Darcy > Colonel Brandon. And I can't help but feel that Rickman won with an assist from his turn as Severus Snape. There are a lot of women who are in love with Alan Rickman as Snape. Look, I love Rickman. I think Snape is a fascinating character. And Rickman does a FABULOUS job with Snape. But I just don't understand people who think he's sexy as Snape. Snape, the character, is not sexy. Rickman as Snape is not sexy. I guess the argument is that he's all tortured? Or something? I mean, we don't find out anything sympathetic about him until Prisoner of Azkaban, and that's only that the Marauders were mean to him.

Of course, there are some guys I find sexy that people probably don't. So I shouldn't judge. And he was EXCELLENT in Sense and Sensibility.