Week of Theater: A Second Chance

As the first of four shows I'm seeing in the next week (and then another on December 17!), I saw A Second Chance at Signature. It's a new musical, the first from writer/lyricist Ted Shen, and tells the story of Dan, a widower, and Jenna, a divorcee. (The couple is played by Brian and Diane Sutherland, married in real life. Always so cute when that happens!) They meet at a party. The piece follows their relationship over the next 7 months.

The show is perfect for the Ark Theatre at Signature, the small, black box space. It's a quiet, intimate piece. The story is an emotional journey, and there aren't any crazy obstacles thrown in the path of their relationship--just the emotional baggage that two middle-aged adults have. Jenna seems perhaps a bit overly reluctant at first, and Diane Sutherland at times acts by way of gestures a bit much, but those are my only qualms with the show.

The show is sung-through, and the songs have a Sondheim quality--and Sondheim himself gets a shout-out at Dan and Jenna's first date, a trip to the Met. However, it was one of those shows where because the music reminded me of something else, I wound up with the music from Merrily We Roll Along in my head, not A Second Chance. I did find myself wishing there was more straight dialogue...but then wondering what the dialogue would be. This is a show of introspection, and that's something that comes from an internal monologue--song. The show doesn't need dialogue, but I found myself missing it. Maybe just to give the two actors a break, though they both had fantastic voices.

I also noticed the same technique that I picked up on in Parade--at the end of a song, the music bled into the next, leaving little opportunity. This happened for the first few songs, and then did allow for applause. But it almost felt intrusive to applaud; in such a small space, it was almost like that would be the illusion.

A Second Chance is a quiet, emotional piece and made for an enjoyable evening. Will it take the theatre world by storm? No. But it's great to see such a good show about a topic that's so rarely explored.