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Scratch and sniff
"Great American Trailer Park Musical'
Steve Cohen
The Great American Trailer Park Musical is a clever, energetic, entertaining show that has encountered great success in venues from New York City to the sticks since its premiere in 2004, and this company did such business in Montgomery County last winter that it booked the Arden's upstairs theater for an engagement this past month.
The show exploits the lifestyle of trashy, low-class denizens of a trailer park in a way that elicits laughs from urban audiences. For example: "My friends call me Lin but my full name is Linoleum because my mama gave birth to me on the kitchen floor." Still, the enterprise hovers between uncomfortable glorification and superciliousness.
It's set in the fictional town of Starke, Fla., primarily at the Armadillo Acres trailer park. The humor is intentionally vulgar. If you don't enjoy seeing a woman scratch her crotch and then sniff her fingers, this theater experience isn't for you.
The story centers on a sad-sack toll collector and his agoraphobic wife, Jeanie, who hasn't ventured outside their mobile home in 20 years, since the kidnapping of their son. This opening hints at the plot's climax, when said child, of course, returns. The toll-collector has an affair with stripper Pippi, while a trio of trailer park women serve as the show's Greek chorus.
It would be nice if the characters and their predicaments were recognizable because we could identify with them. Instead, they're recognizable because we've seen them on TV soap operas and reality shows. Some onlookers will find pleasure in knowing that they, thank God, are not like the people in the play.
Megan Nicole O'Brien directs with broad strokes that maximize the laughs. The best performances are those that are a bit gentler; subtle isn't quite the word, but Nancie Sangerson as the agoraphobic housewife, Carly Pearlstein as the stripper Pippi, Michael Doherty as Pippi's boyfriend and Rachel Camp as perpetually-pregnant Pickles create an aura of humanity that's lacking elsewhere in this production, which is nevertheless long on commitment and energy.
The show exploits the lifestyle of trashy, low-class denizens of a trailer park in a way that elicits laughs from urban audiences. For example: "My friends call me Lin but my full name is Linoleum because my mama gave birth to me on the kitchen floor." Still, the enterprise hovers between uncomfortable glorification and superciliousness.
It's set in the fictional town of Starke, Fla., primarily at the Armadillo Acres trailer park. The humor is intentionally vulgar. If you don't enjoy seeing a woman scratch her crotch and then sniff her fingers, this theater experience isn't for you.
The story centers on a sad-sack toll collector and his agoraphobic wife, Jeanie, who hasn't ventured outside their mobile home in 20 years, since the kidnapping of their son. This opening hints at the plot's climax, when said child, of course, returns. The toll-collector has an affair with stripper Pippi, while a trio of trailer park women serve as the show's Greek chorus.
It would be nice if the characters and their predicaments were recognizable because we could identify with them. Instead, they're recognizable because we've seen them on TV soap operas and reality shows. Some onlookers will find pleasure in knowing that they, thank God, are not like the people in the play.
Megan Nicole O'Brien directs with broad strokes that maximize the laughs. The best performances are those that are a bit gentler; subtle isn't quite the word, but Nancie Sangerson as the agoraphobic housewife, Carly Pearlstein as the stripper Pippi, Michael Doherty as Pippi's boyfriend and Rachel Camp as perpetually-pregnant Pickles create an aura of humanity that's lacking elsewhere in this production, which is nevertheless long on commitment and energy.
What, When, Where
The Great American Trailer Park Musical. By Betsy Kelso and David Nehls. Montgomery Theater’s co-production with the 11th Hour Theatre Company, June 3-19, 2011 at Arden Theatre 40 N. Second St. www.11thhourtheatrecompany.org.
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