Review: 69 Love Scenes at Salvage Vanguard Theater [Theater]
The Magnetic Fields' ambitious triple album, 69 Love Songs, was released in 1999 to the adoration of indie rock nerds everywhere. More than ten years later, Gnap! Theater Projects brings Austin the workshop version of a theatrical adaptation of the album, with the full show scheduled to appear in a 2011 run.
The source material is a kind of labored meditation on love songs spread across three discs. Gnap!'s show, directed by Kerri Lendo, takes a literal approach to the album by showing the audience a scene per song, 69 in all. Just like the album, the show is divided up: one disc a night. On May 21 and 22 the first disc is on display. May 28 and 29 the second and June 4 and 5 the third. Then all three albums in succession on June 10, 11 and 12. Austinist caught the show on May 22, the first album.
Just as 69 Love Songs uses The Magnetic Fields signature synth and electronic sound mixed in with a wide variety of other instrumentation and a handful of different vocalists, 69 Love Scenes presents a multimedia experience. There's a variety of live music, recorded music, sketches and scenes with dialogue, sketches and scenes sans dialogue, video segments, audio bits and, on the night in question, even a short claymation video.
The album itself meanders across the vast expanse of romantic love experiences, from pure lust to hopeless devotion to bitter breakups and beyond in a humorous and ironic fashion. The show explores all of these themes in a manner very true to the album. Each scene or sketch is introduced by the album title which inspired it, in order from the original track listing. The rather large cast all don denim and black as their base costume and the show makes use of relatively minimal props and costuming beyond that. A great number of the scenes are comedic sketches living in their own universe, but connections begin to be made throughout the show and as characters reappear and the audience begins follow their story lines. In the first album, Avimaan Syam and Allison Alvarez emerge as sort of leads and appear in half a dozen or so of the scenes as we follow their separate and colliding stories. This through line is one of the more satisfying arcs and provides those unfamiliar with the album a narrative structure and something to appreciate outside of the concept alone.
In 2011, when the final product has come together, maybe the show will be able to equally appeal to the most die hard fan and the uninitiated alike. However, as it stands 69 Love Scenes appears particularly engaging to fans of the triple album, packed as it is with nods and direct references. If one doesn't know who The Magnetic Fields are, isn't a music afficionado, or can't appreciate the concept of adapting an album for a scripted piece of theater, the show might not satisfy. However, Stephin Merritt enthusiasts—and there are plenty of them in Austin—should find that 69 Love Scenes satiates them as both a music lover and a theater-goer.
