I don't usually do musicals, so I walked into "The Jazz Club" hesitantly. An hour-and-a-half show of all singing is not what I would normally enjoy, but this show grabbed my attention in the first five minutes and didn't let go. Each song told the story of at least one of the five fascinating women who graced the stage, and figuring out each woman's story, coupled with their beautiful voices, made this show truly enjoyable.
This show has a cast of five, though the costumed band is a character in and of itself. The five women of "The Jazz Club" never speak, as the show is a compilation of songs, but the actresses are able to communicate their individual and group stories with remarkable skill without a word of dialogue. They sing to the club, the audience and to themselves. In their truly beautiful voices, they make the audience part of the club. This is one of the many unique aspects of the show, according to director Sarah Rebecca Gaglio.
"This is such an interesting project for Torn Ticket to be doing, because we normally do fully scripted and scored plays, but that's not exactly what we're doing with this," she said, with a laugh.
The show is a compilation of songs from both musicals and 1940s jazz standards, which means the show's lineup of tunes was built from the ground up. The atmosphere of the production's set and the music complemented each other wonderfully. All of the songs were expertly performed by the singers, who incorporated the music seamlessly throughout the show.
"Once we got the song list, we figured out why our characters are singing them, and who they were singing them to, and stuff like that," MicaelaMullee, who plays Evelyn Malone, said.
They then gave their characters identities to match their singing motivations, which Gaglio encouraged. This organic relationship between the performers and their roles contributed to the flow of the show and made each performance memorable.
"The girls were able to create backgrounds for characters based on the songs, which was great," Gaglio said. "If you pulled one girl aside and said 'tell me about your character,' they would. They each have personalities. Each girl is distinct."
Everything, from stage direction to costumes, to hair and makeup, was shaped by the personalities each performer gave to her character.
These five talented girls certainly succeeded, because by the end of the show each audience member could discern a great deal about the personality of each Jazz Club performer, even before reading the bios that the girls wrote for their characters. Mullee's character was clearly the veteran of the showbiz world; Bernadette Wilde, played by Jenna Wells, made me laugh hysterically; and Elaine Evans, played by Adele McAllister, is an endearing and sweet romantic.
While no one ever speaks the words that define this show, the themes are very clear to all who watch.
"There's definitely the theme of girl power
- not to take away from the Spice Girls," producer Jacob Passy said.
The cast, clearly having absorbed their characters sense of community and girl power, agreed, and immediately started defining which character is which Spice Girl.
"We are the Spice Girls, aren't we?" Mullee said, laughing with her castmates about which girl would play which role.
They recognized the freshness of their cast, of their experience and of their show.
"It was such a unique experience, because I got to build this character from the ground up," said Morgan Burch, who plays Ginger Lyn Tate. "This show will never happen again - I guess we really do own it."
