Hey

A parody musical wherein a guest lecturer shows the good citizens of a small American town a not-at-all sensationalized PSA about the dangers of marijuana, aka REEFER. Watch as a sweet young all-American couple are driven down a path of debauchery, murder, and cannibalism; heed the warning, and say no to drugs, or else YOUR children could be next!

Favorite Song: "Murder"

Favorite Lyric: "Mary Lane, oh Mary Lane / Our hearts pound like a diesel train / The world may crumble / We'll remain"

Favorite Moment: "It hurts a lot to bend / But at least I made a friend" while she's getting sodomized by Satan

Who I Would Play: We did this show when I was in college and I was not cast so I guess that's that on that really

I feel like my thoughts on this show and my reasons for liking it are lot less nuanced than my feelings towards some of the other shows I've talked about in these posts, I just think it's a lot of fucking fun. Hilarious, and every single song is a showstopper. It's dark and twisted too, which I always love!

It's actually kinda punk, which is not something you can usually say about a glossy musical (which will often adopt the aesthetics of edginess without any actual teeth) but in this case, I think it's deserved. Not only does it ask the audience to laugh at sex, drugs, racism, murder, cannibalism, it also takes the piss out of picture-perfect white America and conservatism, using this humor to make a salient point about the absurdity of the war on drugs and the mechanics of fear mongering.

Gordon Schwinn is a neurotic composer writing songs for a children's show who winds up in the hospital needing surgery for a brain condition. With his fate uncertain, Gordon sinks deeper and deeper into hallucinations (starring the colorful cast of characters from his real life) as he struggles to come to terms with his mortality, and to finish what could potentially be his very last song.

Favorite Song: "Thow It Out"

Favorite Lyric: "In this mood / I hear music / I dance nude / And won't close the blind / I think I'm finally losing my mind"

Favorite Moment: Everything Mary Testa does on the original cast recording

Who I Would Play: I do a really good Roger

"Heart and Music" is really the perfect descriptor for this show because those are the two things it has in spades. A very touching, warmly human story, stuffed with some of the most heartfelt AND off-kilter songs you'll ever hear in a musical. William Finn is at his most William Finn here, indulging himself in all of the idiosyncrasies that define his work without any sort of shame, and the results are really beautiful to listen to.

I don't love the revisions the 2014 revival made to the show, partially because I think they're just less satisfying musically but mostly because I think that in the pursuit of making the show "cleaner," they hacked away at the most interesting aspect of the show, which is the raw emotion of it all. The show is sprawling and strange and nonsensical, but it always makes emotional sense because you can always feel the truth of what's being said radiating through.

It's about grief, it's about love, it's about art, it's about the ways that we spend our time and the people we spend it with. And it's about frogs. Really, what more could you ask for?