March 03--It's the oldest American story in the book. Lighting out for the territory. Getting on the road or the train or the plane and going somewhere, anywhere -- as long as it isn't here. In "Fugitive Songs," Chris Miller and Nathan Tysen's 2008 song cycle now at BoHo Theatre, running away takes many forms. As directed by Zachary L. Gray, the six-member ensemble delivers mostly touching, if occasionally wince-worthy, takes on these meditations on why we run -- and why we come back.
The tiny space of the Heartland Studio allows for intimacy and the voices are, for the most part, well balanced with music director Jeffrey Poindexter's four-piece offstage band. The performers also accompany themselves -- notably Justin Adair on guitar and Charlotte Morris on violin.
From "Reasons to Run," in which a photo shop employee (Adair, who is a vocal standout throughout) in The Middle of Nowhere, Utah, chooses to go in search of his own pictures, we first see these stories as quick takes on economic and emotional stagnation. That continues in "Subway Song," in which Greg Foster, as an employee of the eponymous sandwich shop, laments his limited opportunities, describing himself as "fine wine rotting at an early age." Big cities also can stagnate, as Julian Terrell Otis explores in "Washington Heights," in which his life in the Manhattan neighborhood is far from an urban -- or urbane -- paradise.
My main quibble with the songs is that they tend to present stories of women as being reactive to the men in their lives -- most disturbingly in "Poor Little Patty," where two women (Morris and Elissa Newcorn) yearn to be kidnapped like Patty Hearst. That's not just a lack of imagination. It's a lack of taste. (Sondheim could make it work, maybe.)
That said, Demi Zaino delivers a brassy, no-holds-barred take as a spoiled girlfriend in "Annie's Party," and Newcorn tears the roof off with the delicious "Spring Cleaning," in which she decides that her man might be the thing to leave on the curb. Foster, Zaino and Newcorn combine forces in the darkly comic "Wilson," which brings a literal twist of "fugitive" to the song.
But some of the most touching moments in this generally solid 75-minute show come with quieter and more elliptical takes on what it means to be on your own. In "Kansas Highway Sky," Foster, Adair and Otis portray three friends on a bike ride in Colorado, each with his own thoughts but somehow connected.
This is a fine showcase for these young performers -- and Miller and Tysen's songs hint at an understanding by the end that as you get older, you don't need to leave home. If you live long enough, all that makes home worthwhile will start to leave you.
Review: "Fugitive Songs"
3 STARS
Through March 13, BoHo Theatre at the Heartland Studio, 7016 N. Glenwood Ave.; tickets $25 at 866-811-4111 or bohotheatre.com
Kerry Reid is a freelance critic.
onthetown@tribpub.com
