*Note: As per the performance eligibility requirements as laid out here, this musical is not up for HRACT Award consideration, as Zeiders American Dream Theater is a professional theater.

As the lights crackle on above the Main Stage of Zeiders American Dream Theater, the audience, along with our protagonist John Casey, is suddenly thrust into a bar.  A bar which feels completely familiar and, at the same time, completely new and mysterious.  As we work to get our bearings in the dimly lit pub, the first chords of music play, and the stage is suddenly crawling with an entire cast of barflies, who seem to have been waiting for their next visitor.  Throughout the ensuing ensemble number, the Bartender approaches John, telling him that he is dead and giving him a choice – he can either stay at the bar forever, participating in the telling of the stories of the recently deceased, OR he can be judged on his own story, and either be shown mercy or judgment at the end, moving through this place, and onto the next. 

So begins “Rathskeller: A Musical Elixir”, a new musical with book, music, and lyrics by Brianna Kothari Barnes.  This is the very first full staging of this musical with live music, a very exciting get for The Z as part of their Curtain Up! New Play Series.  It is an endlessly fascinating concept to look back at your life and the major decisions you made, and be judged upon them.  This play sets the purgatory/courtroom in a bar, adds in a rock-style score with soaring vocals, and provides us with the compelling case of John Casey, who, in a foreshadowing of his hubris, chooses to have his story judged.

John is a man who, as we will find out over the course of the two hour-ish play, began life with ambition and hope, dealt with an abusive, alcoholic father full of expectations, developed his own issues with addiction, and was consistently undone by his own pride.  And yet, the audience can somehow understand John.  We get why he would choose the high-paying business career in a different state from home.  We get the pressures that John faces at work.  We can sympathize with John’s want – no, need – to perceive himself as self-sufficient.  Each of these decisions and circumstances, individually, is totally recognizable, and Steve Pacek, who plays John, brilliantly brings out the human side of this character.  With the help of a real-feeling script, Pacek is able to take the audience down his increasingly dark path, while keeping them (mostly) rooting for him to turn things around.  And he brings the audience to tears with his final song of the evening as he pleads his case for mercy.

The Bartender, played by Kristy Glass, leads John through various scenes of his life, acting in the tradition of the Emcee in “Cabaret” and the Lead Player in “Pippin”.  I found The Bartender to be the most interesting character study, as despite her declaring herself to be basically a facilitator of the judgement process, she becomes increasingly involved in John’s plot, acting as a surrogate for the rise of his pride and his addiction.  Is she solely an amalgamation of all John’s worst instincts?  Or is she a being unto herself?  The ambiguity is what makes her fascinating.  And Glass is the perfect person to pull this off, not only having the voice to belt out The Bartender’s songs, but having excellent timing, sneaking into a scene or closer to John just as his vices are about to show themselves.  The bar lights would flash (by the way, great work by lighting designer Akin Ritchie throughout), and there would be Glass, right in the middle of things again.

As we move through John’s life, we meet the main players in his life.  Kathy Hinson plays John’s endlessly supportive mom and James Manno plays John’s abusive and alcoholic father.  Janae Thompson lends her beautiful voice to John’s college friend Ty who tries to keep John grounded and remembering the important things in life.  Ty’s sister Tasha, played by Kai Brittani, is John’s path to a lucrative, if not personally rewarding, career in New York.  She convinces John to join her firm with an incredible performance of “Take One Bite”, which absolutely brought the house down.  Alexandra Shepard is Becca, John’s childhood crush, and while her powerful voice is wonderful, it is her acting that was most impressive, as she tries to get John to own up to his vices and get the help he needs.  And Jessi DiPette, taking a break from her lockdown of the role of Sibella in the area’s productions of “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder” (a few months ago at LTVB and coming soon to LTN), does a fantastic job as John’s persistently put-down assistant Peyton. 

The impressive amount of talent (especially singing talent) for a local production is only enhanced by the work of Liz Brydge as music supervisor and the choreography of Jennifer Kelly-Cooper (who we saw earlier this year choreographing “Escape to Margaritaville” and then in a breath-taking performance on stage in “Flyin’ West”).  Brydge’s work with the cast to blend their voices paid off, especially in the middle of the second act, when a sudden and incredibly tight four part harmony between a quartet of women in John’s life explodes off the stage.  And Kelly-Cooper’s choreography fit the feel of the show perfectly, was interesting to watch, and executed exceedingly well by both the main characters and especially the ensemble (filled out by Raymond Dimaano, Alexandra Fleshman, Moriah Leeward, and “Escape to Margaritaville’s” Tré Porchia).

This show is ultimately a story about the perils of pride, addiction, breaking the cycle your parents establish for you, getting lost in life, and forgetting what is really important to you as a person.  What this cast does best throughout is to get the emotion of each scene just right.  The audience cares because it can feel that the characters care, and the direction provided by Patrick Mullins is key to getting that out of his cast.  Here’s to hoping Brianna Kothari Barnes gives us musicals about the perils of each of the other six deadly sins in good time.