Theatre Review: New Musical 'Having It All' In World Premiere

Reason, and plagiarism laws, prevent me from taking credit for the new musical “Having It All,” now a short freeway drive away, at the NoHo Arts Theatre in North Hollywood through April 24. I didn’t conceive the show, nor co-write the book.

But my friend, musical theatre actor Wendy Perelman, did.

Six years ago in my Altadena kitchen, Perelman played a CD of the score, written by John Kavanaugh and David Goldsmith. My 12 year old daughter and I stood, mouths agape, as ballad after torch song after expressive melody and lyric unfurled. We laughed. We cried. This was the first time brand new musical theatre was premiered at my kitchen table. And the last time, too.

A few years before, Wendy married our dear friend Jeremiah and divided their time between New York and Venice, California.  Once their son Aaron came to swim at our house when he was a little bitty boy. We learned that at two he liked to swim in the altogether, and the image of his surprisingly gargantuan man parts was pitched by my comedy writer husband to Larry David.  Thus, Wendy Perelman inadvertently inspired a storyline on “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” This credit is not listed on her CV.

Fast forward to March 12, 2011.” Having It All” is crisply directed by Richard Israel.  Five women are stranded at JFK, and as womenfolk tend to do, they unburden themselves to the strangers in their midst.  Mere mortals don’t sing nearly as well as these gals, though. The types are easily recognized (Dragon Boss Lady, Plain Jane, Barf-Stained Mom, Yoga Lady, Witty Jewish Chick), their banter is sharp, and we identify with what’s funny in Temecula and the frazzled mom traveling alone, still with Highlights Magazine in her purse, the shoe envy.

Produced by David Elzer and Peter Schneider who brought you “The Marvelous Wonderettes,” Elzer said he was introduced to the musical by Victoria Morris, a respected theatrical agent.  A marketing and publicity expert, working with theatres from Pasadena to Ventura county, including the Furious Theatre Company, Rubicon Theatre, La Mirada Theatre of Performing Arts, the Celebration Theatre in Hollywood, Elzer said, “This work stayed with me, kept calling me. I knew it is as good or better than everything out there.”  The show opens March 12 after two weeks in previews.

The set design by Stephen Gifford is a sky blue boarding area, a construct of sleek, sturdy lines, almost a comfortable scaffolding or the box in which modern life is lived. Clouds fill the big picture window suggesting elevated suspension.  This isn’t the view from an airport boarding area, but a POV from  the air.  The steep rake of the seating plan at the NoHo Arts Theatre forces the audience to look down upon the stage and action therein.

Our heroines are stuck below us, in a purgatorial valley, waiting. They, too, can see the clouds, but are they in them? No, they cannot fly, literally or figuratively.  They make progress through halting, joking, bleating, cursing revelations.  When words don’t work, they have shared non-verbal languages, too, such as a balletic yoga. The engaging Lyndsey Alley, as stalled-writer Sissy, fills out her character with charm and animation; my notes say, “Sissy making a funny sex face.”  Although I don’t recall the specifics, I do remember her clever rendition of “In My Other Life,” a song comic actresses of the future will burnish for auditions.  This song shall be known to your seed, mark me. But don’t bring the little tykes to see the show until they’re at least 14.  Adult language and content run throughout.

Two actresses shine with emotional intensity, Kim Huber (Lizzie) and Shannon Warne (Amy). We last saw Warne at the Pasadena Playhouse as the enchanting and comely Guinevere in “Camelot.” Warne has a refreshing grittiness that pretty girls wrongly suppress, and her “My Masterpiece” is compelling. Huber, who played "Belle" in Disney’s Beauty And The Beast on Broadway, defines homespun sincerity. The cavernous maw of  yearning that may well consume  her as we watch, oh no, please, is raw emotion tenderly played. For one instant, she is slightly unhinged, recalling a bit of Alice Ripley’s wet, sad abyss in “Next To Normal.”  Capable Alet Taylor (Carly) gets gentle  laughs as the nutty yoga instructor, and could go ditzier with her opening song.  Jennifer Leigh Warren (Julia) has the pipes to blow the roof off the theatre and the brass to deliver stinging commentary to the fools in her way.  There are many pretty harmonies and clever rhymes (Joan Didion/self-pityin’ comes to mind) which justify the price of admission. The accompaniment on piano (rumor has it a baby grand) is lush, silky and the real deal, like a cashmere shawl around the whole enjoyable package.

Costume designer Ann Closs-Farley, lighting designer Luke Moyer, sound designer Cricket S. Myers and stage manager Chris Murry. 

NoHo Arts Center, 11136 Magnolia Boulevard, North Hollywood, 91601. Tickets, $40, (323) 960-7776 or www.plays411.com/havingitall.