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Review: 69 Love Scenes at Salvage Vanguard Theater
Thursday-Saturday through July 23
Salvage Vanguard Theatre (2803 Manor Road)
$10, 8 pm
[info] | [tickets]
69 Love Scenes, which opened last week at Salvage Vanguard Theater, is to a Magnetic Fields fanatic as X-Men: Generation X is to a die-hard Marvel fan. Written by Monique Daviau and Avimaan Syam (who also directs), with additional writing contributions by other members of Gnap! Theater Projects, the piece embodies perfectly the ideas, concept, and emotion of the album, while also bringing a new, clever interpretation.
The play is literally 69 scenes coordinating to each song. The scenes are sometimes sarcastically literal, but otherwise weave in and out of several hilarious, relatable and often uncomfortable story lines on love. There are stories of heartbreak, juvenile infatuation and even a traditional forty-year love saga with a grandmother who gives talks about masturbation at a restaurant.
In addition to paying perfect homage to the albums and delighting the hardcore fan with obscure references, the play also makes real, interesting challenges to our ideas about love, sex, relationships, and matters of the heart. It thoughtfully obliterates typical characterizations of relationships, so much so that by the end of the play practically every cast member, regardless of gender, has made out with each other.
The play also manages to poke fun at Fields fans in general, calling attention to their “obsession with nostalgia,” as it discreetly compares it to their infatuation with movies like High Fidelity and television shows like CSI, The Mentalist, and Arrested Development. On that point, it may be a bit more difficult for an audience member not familiar with the albums to understand these aspects of the play. That is not to say they would not enjoy it, just that there are moments that might come off as somewhat random. The play appears to be largely written for the nostalgic nerds it references and it has no shame in admitting that.
In short, 69 Love Scenes is an indie kid's dream. A dream splashed with dildos and copious underwear shots, original music by Adam Hilton, Diana Ross-speedy costume changes, impeccable lighting design, and impressive performances by the entire cast. Overall, like the record, 69 Love Scenes leaves the audience with one last thought, from "The Book of Love," if you will: even though we may never understand love, no one is left untouched by it.
Review by Kristen Verrill
