Faulkner University

“SCHOOL HOUSE ROCK LIVE!”
August 14, 2009

A review by Michael P. Howley – Member of the American Theatre Critics Association; Board of Directors: Alabama Conference of Theatre and Southeastern Theatre Conference

The Faulkner University Dinner Theatre is closing its Summer season with “School House Rock Live!”, a pleasant entertainment based on the popular 1970s television series brought to the stage by George Newall and Tom Yohe.

Jason Clark South directed and designed the sets and collaborated on the choreography and costumes. With the always able musical direction of Marilyn Swears, their combined efforts provide a colorful and lively evening through the talents of a six-character cast drawn from the university and the Montgomery community.

There is only a slight story-line here: Tom [David Brown] is nervous as he is about to begin a teaching career. On the night before school opens, he is visited by assorted “characters” who are really the “ideas in Tom’s head”, and who provide through songs some clever ways to teach a variety of subjects ranging from grammar to math, to history, to science, to diversity. Tom’s gradual enlightenment and confidence build through the play’s two acts, so that by the end he is ready to enter the classroom.

Geared for an elementary school audience, the short songs have clever lyrics and danceable rhythms that keep youngsters’ attention, but the sheer number of songs – 10 in Act I and 11 in Act II –  tax their engagement for an entire evening. What worked so well as three-minute television segments, becomes a challenge when put into a two-hour production. Grown-ups might feel the nostalgia and reflect on long-forgotten lessons from their childhoods, but otherwise there is not much here to sustain interest.

Nonetheless, there are real instructional purposes of this show. The rules of grammar are explained in simple terms that are repeated frequently enough to make the point – repetition is, after all, an effective teaching tool. And colorful visual aids assist in making ideas clear. So, songs like “Verb: That’s What’s Happening” and “A Noun is a Person, Place, or Thing” do it directly, while “Unpack Your Adjectives” and “Conjunction Junction” are a bit more subtle. Rudimentary mathematical lessons are covered by “Three is a Magic Number” and “Zero, My Hero”, for instance, while multiplication is done in “Ready or Not Here I Come”. This is just a sampling; there are many other numbers covering basic science, history & government, and the diversity of American culture.

The actors bring their ample talents to the stage; they must all sing, dance, and act, and most do so with comfort and skill. Chief among them are Brooke Brown, whose strong voice and projection, sustaining the vocal energy through to the ends of phrases, along with a vivacious personality, make her one to look at. And Chris Kelly has become a master of the double-take, making a lot of subtle commentaries on the words and situations. Tony Davidson, Katie Romine, and Gina South also have their individual moments worth watching and hearing, and serve the ensemble well.

Unfortunately, there were a number of technical problems on the night. Lighting too often left key actors totally in the dark or in deep shadow, and some microphones did not work, leaving actors to struggle against the amplification of the instruments and the other actors’ voices.