June 12--Like journalists and NBA stars, superheroes may look like they align to save the world, but they're actually an internally competitive bunch. And on what grounds does the average cyborg compete? It's not so much built-in weaponry or fighting chops. No, everyone has those tricks. What really matters in any super-hierarchy is a really good origin story. If you can't spin a great tale of whence you came, your brand is as limited as your leadership potential. Hillary Clinton and a host of Republican rivals are all worrying about the very same issue right now.
Fatale, the weirdly lovable central character in the Austin Grossman novel "Soon I Will Be Invincible," operates at the command of the leaders of the world -- who rely on an elite squad of superheroes to keep us all out of trouble. But she actually spends more time thinking about where she stands on the good-versus-evil scale than actually doing anything useful for others. As played by the superb Christina Hall in this new, nerd-friendly musical -- the book is by Christopher M. Walsh and the amusingly intense score by Christopher Kriz -- the angst-ridden cyborg is too smart for her own good, realizing early on that she is a slave to her own code, and thus may be a traitor if someone with nefarious intent first wrote her story, and there will be nothing she can do. There is a good chance, she thinks, that the codewriter was none other than the arch super villain, Dr. Impossible. So how can she fight him? With himself?
And you thought you had problems.
Fatale, like much of this very teen-appropriate, college-friendly, oldster-teasing show at the Lifeline Theatre, has a sense of humor, as does Mr. Mystic (Frederick Harris), the down-to-earth Damsel (Corrbette Pasko) and the rest of the crew, excluding Elphin (Sarah Scanlon), an annoying 900-year-old elf who prattles on about special favors from Titania. At one point Fatale dryly suggests that no one ask her to update their iPhone, being as she's built on an android platform. If that kind of tech-support humor tickles your operating system, then "Soon I Will Be Invincible" is your ticket.
But this is no simple parody. Fatale's identity crisis struck me as not that far from potential reality, assuming we build robots like her with enough emotional intelligence to question their own purpose and wonder about their birth parents, or birth programmers, anyway. I don't know. Maybe you have to be flesh and blood to want to know your beginnings, although I swear I hear the same sadness, sometimes, in Siri. And on the other side of the great divide, Phil Timberlake's gaunt Dr. Impossible spends about half his time trying to destroy the world and its super-heroic protectors, and the other half wondering if anything is worth so much bother. At one point, we see the self-reflective and empathetic villain in Starbucks, which he explains by pointing out that, on some days, you just don't feel evil, but you do feel like a cappuccino.
Timberlake also is consistently fascinating in this show: his character knows it's all smoke and mirrors, this super villain business: "In street clothes," he says with a shrug, "I'd just be a criminal."
I should note that "Soon I Will Be Invincible," which is directed by Paul S. Holmquist, has a certain stiffness and a general lack of fluidity in the staging and the music is taped, which is unfortunate, since it lends a pre-packaged air to a show that otherwise is all about characters wanting to understand their present and act with spontaneity. Or what passes thereof, if your are robotic.
But if everyone picked up the pace a bit and took the air out of the transitions -- surely a superhero can lose 10 minutes of indulgence in Rogers Park -- this show has considerable potential, not least because it combines the tropes of the musical with the language of futurism -- near-futurism -- in a very striking and original fashion. I had a great time watching all these needy super whatnots act out their angst.
"Who's a hero?" whines Fatale. "Who programmed who?" Good questions for a very fun and fresh night.
Jones is a Tribune critic.
cjones5@tribpub.com
REVIEW: Soon I Will Be Invincible at Lifeline Theatre
3.5 STARS
When: Through July 19
Where: Lifeline Theatre, 6912 N. Glenwood Ave.
Running time: 2 hours, 20 minutes
Tickets: $40 at 773-761-4477 or lifelinetheatre.com
