Chi Tribune raves for Urinetown 'prequel,' Yeast Nation

Chris Jones raves today in the Chicago Tribune for Yeast Nation, by Greg Kotis and Mark Hollmann, the primordial 'prequel' to Urinetown.

Some choice quotes. Full review linked below:

"It's as if Greg Kotis and Mark Hollmann set themselves the task of finding the most absurdly impossible subject matter for a new musical. That was the point.

The whole show is hilarious. You'll split your sides laughing - a potential fate that disturbs these amorphous characters greatly.

When you've stopped laughing from this yeast infection, you can tap your toes and clap your hands to a wholly lovable score from Hollmann far superior in range, wit, style and melody to the tunes that make up "Urinetown." Since it was penned by two of Broadway's hottest recent names, "Yeast Nation" went through a slew of workshops and backers' auditions. But none of those previous incarnations featured this score. That was saved for Sweet Home Chicago, where both of these boys were young yeasts. And the score is the ace is this eukaryotic micro-organism's hole."

Once the right cultish crowd gets a hold of such ditties as "Stasis is the Membrane," "You're Not [The Least] The Yeast You Used to Be," the dance hit "Don't Be a Traitor to Love" and the yeast's signature song, "Alone," yeasts will be as cool as a yeast could be."


Chicago Tribune - Yeast Nation review

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Updated On: 9/24/09 at 09:55 AM

I'm still holding out for "Booger: The Musical."

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I just noticed they were on Hottix. I think I'm gonna order tickets, too.

Got my tix from Goldstar. Lower fees. I'll be seeing it this weekend.

A couple of articles from the main Chicago papers about the show's evolution at the link belows. An excerpt from the Tribune:

Their agent put them in touch with director PJ Paparelli, who was then running the Perseverance Theatre in Juneau, Alaska. And "Yeast Nation" had its first out-of-town tryout. Way out of town.

"No one came," says Kotis, discovering that Broadway types don't do Alaska.

"Even our agent didn't come," says Hollmann. "That was sad."

But agents and producers surely know how to find Chicago, and the reaction here to "Yeast Nation" will be closely watched. Paparelli, who moved to Chicago and now runs ATC, will be directing again, but Hollmann says that the show has completely changed. Replacing a score with what Hollmann describes as "mock operatic pretensions" is a new rock-oriented score that pokes fun at the pop-rock styles of the 1970s and 1980s. It'll be played in Chicago by a live band, accompanying a cast of 15.

I had tickets to one of the previews but it got cancelled due to a cast change, and the theater's management has been great with rescheduling and exchanges.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/stage/chi-0913-jones-fall-profilesep13,0,5246624,full.story

http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/stage/1763974,WKP-News-call11North.article

I was at the Sunday performance as well and I definitely see some potential in the show. Yeast Nation certainly has its funny moments when it allows you to navigate through the plot. Unfortunately, too much of the narrative occurs in song, the erroneous and inconsistently use of a cliched Greek chorus, or through rapid-fire dialogue that doesn't allow its audience time to fully grasp what is going on. But even when you do catch on to it, the plot is hopelessly convoluted and the show's message(s) get lost in its own primordial "muck". About half the score is fun with a few real zingers such as "Stasis" and "Love Equals Pain", but the rest is as generic and unmemorable as any other Off-Broadway camp spoof number found in Bat Boy, Zanna Don't or Toxic Avenger. The show is obviously still trying to find its footing and I think once it decides what it's about, it may evolve into a show with its own identity and style. But for now, its loaded with way too many messages (the entire second act focuses on LOVE, but never really makes any point), allegories (parallels to the Anglo invasion of the New World did not escape me) and sketches for the audience to be able to weed out its purpose for being.

Like Urinetown, it does pay its hilarious homage to some musical classics, intentional or not. I definitely picked out fleeting moments of Cats, Legally Blonde, Oklahoma and what may or may not have been a deliberate nod to Carrie ("Love Equals Pain" instantly reminded me of "Unsuspecting Hearts" merging two Betty Buckley shows in one: Cats and Carrie), but if there were more, they might have been a little too esoteric or I was concentrating too hard on trying to sort out what was going on. There was even a character who was wigged to either represent Little Sally from Urinetown or Wednesday Addams (I'm not sure which was implied), but it was moot by the second act when her hair changed suddenly to Princess Lea from Star Wars, though I have no idea why. And if you count lighting, then Spring Awakening definitely left its mark in the design.

The acting was a little uneven, but there were some definite standouts. Andrew Keltz as Jan the Second has the voice of a young Daniel Jenkins if you close your eyes. Barbara Robertson made the most of Unnamed, the Old Deuteronomy of Yeast Nation, and she has yet to do anything but impress me. And Wendi Weber basically stole the show as the naive dim-witted yeast with a heart and a bottomless stomach, Jan the Famished.

The direction was a bit erratic with some really fun comedic moments, while others were too quick or forced to register a reaction from the audience. The only truly unforgivable misstep in this production were the overtly literal and downright ugly costumes. With a clearer exposition (and catchier opening number), there could be much more variety in the characters' costumes that could more clearly define their personalities while tying them together in various shades of the same color to form their sense of lineage and community. The splattered transparent neon green ponchos with a big fried egg velcroed to their chests underneath were just gaudy, uninspired and clumsy.

I went in with the mindset that it is a work in progress and that despite the buzz as being a "prequel" to Urinetown (though there seems to be no real connection in characters or plot), I treated it as a completely independent piece. I've a feeling they are trying to mirror Urinetown's juxtaposition of morality vs practicality as a comment on the historical irony of human nature, but it's not there yet. Despite the negatives, I wasn't actually disappointed and found some real entertainment value in the show, but it still has a long developmental journey ahead before its ready for New York audiences and critics. I don't want to put anyone off from seeing the show because it is fun. It's just not really coherent.

Replacing a score with what Hollmann describes as "mock operatic pretensions" is a new rock-oriented score that pokes fun at the pop-rock styles of the 1970s and 1980s.

Mmmmm...maybe a couple of times. There was a sort of Pippin-esqe number, but the score did not come across quite as deliberate in its approach to me. And the soliloqual final number for Jan the Eldest was just baffling. I just knew he kept saying "love" a lot, but that word was used in every other sentence throughout the second act.

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Updated On: 9/28/09 at 06:09 PM