When it premiered again in 2017, Min Kahng’s world-premiere musical at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, “The Four Immigrants,” was such a delight that his newest, “Happy Pleasant Valley: A Senior Sex Scandal Murder Mystery Musical,” additionally commissioned by and developed at TheatreWorks (in a co-production with Middle Repertory Firm in Walnut Creek), must have been a slam-dunk.
Certainly, it has every thing the amusing title guarantees: a no-nonsense, randy septuagenarian (performed by longtime professional Emily Kuroda) in a senior dwelling group who’s suspected of murdering her paramours; her opportunistic Gen Z vlogger granddaughter, Jade (Sophie Oda, an emotionally genuine performer with an attractive singing voice), who turns into enmeshed within the seek for the true killer (and undergoes a significant perspective adjustment alongside the way in which); and heartfelt songs.
Every of the supporting characters in Completely satisfied Nice Valley Senior Residences has a particular position, full with a person shocking reveal on the finish. Properly forged by longtime TheatreWorks director Jeffrey Lo, they embody sensible comedian actor Danny Scheie, who focuses on sly innuendos and interacting with the viewers; Lucinda Hitchcock Cone, whose affectless supply could make the blandest strains appear humorous; Rinabeth Apostol, ingenious in a number of roles; and extra.
To his credit score, Kahng, who wrote the ebook, music and lyrics, doesn’t stint on four-letter phrases—sure, previous folks cuss—and easily weaves in homosexual and trans characters. The actors themselves largely keep away from cartoony, age-related clichés.
L-R, Miller Liberatore, Emily Kuroda and Sophie Oda are amusing in TheatreWorks Silicon Valley & Middle Repertory Firm’s “Happy Pleasant Valley: A Senior Sex Scandal Murder Mystery Musical” performing by way of March 30 at Lucie Stern Theatre in Palo Alto. (Courtesy Kevin Berne)
However in some ways, Kahng falters.
The plot is lengthy (the present runs two and a half hours with intermission) and too typically foolish, and by the tip, you actually gained’t care who murdered whom and why.
The songs—besides one, properly carried out by lanky Miller Liberatore as a smitten assistant to Jade —will not be humorous and have a tendency to sound alike. A saving grace is the dwell band led by William Liberatore.
The choreography is disappointingly formulaic.
Though Kahng is aiming for raunchy humor, the textual content merely lacks true wit. OK, so elders prefer to canoodle; one resident is enamored of a squirrel; Grandma’s a surprisingly robust cookie, and a heretofore trustworthy husband lastly comes out of the closet.
Whereas the script labors to make every character hilariously eccentric, and the actors do their finest with the phrases they’ve been given, it’s simply not that humorous.
Though Grandma apparently is supposed to be the central character, the center of the play is the transformation of influencer Jade, and that subplot feels extra pure than the pressured humor that surrounds it.
TheatreWorks Silicon Valley and Middle Repertory Firm’s “Happy Pleasant Valley: A Senior Sex Scandal Murder Mystery Musical” continues by way of March 30 at Lucie Stern Theatre, 1305 Middlefield Street, Palo Alto. Tickets are $35 to $115 at theatreworks.org.
