Theater Review—

‘Starting Here, Starting Now,’ Another Great Stray Kats Offering…

And This Time You Can Still Catch A Performance

By Julie Stern

By popular acclaim —  seven people I spoke with — the best song in Starting Here, Starting Now, a 26-number musical review by Richard Maltby Jr. and David Shire, is a piece called “Crossword Puzzle,” a rueful lament sung by Sarah Paige Morris,  playing a woman who used to do the Sunday Times puzzle with her boyfriend. Because she was clearly smarter than he was,  she insisted on feeding him the correct answers. If she hadn’t been so smart, she sings, she would be the one accompanying him now on that Caribbean cruise, instead of that dumber new girlfriend who made him feel good about himself.

Another one I particularly enjoyed during one of last weekend’s two performances by Stray Kats Theatre Company was the contrapuntal duet “We Can Talk To Each Other,” in which Mark Basile waxes radiant over his new relationship with Leigh Katz because he imagines they are communicating, when in fact, the conversation is egotistically all about him, while he is blithely unaware that she is sputtering and rolling her eyes in increasingly high dudgeon.

The slate of songs are not specifically interconnected, but they do trace the trajectory of urban romance, beginning with the heady early stages, with numbers like “I May Want to Remember This Day” and “Just Across the River (someone perfect is waiting to find me).”

Then the colder reality starts to set in, with Leigh’s mournful ballad “Autumn,” and Mark’s snappish “I Don’t Remember Christmas (and I don’t remember you).”

In “I Don’t Believe It,” the trio listens to other people’s claims of having found ideal relationships and pooh poohs them as phonies. Tirst act ends with a riotous piece by Director Kate Katcher as Thelma von Thelma, “a Bloomingdales beauty consultant who promises I’m Going To Make You Beautiful, because in this highly competitive market, less than perfect girls end up on the shelf…”

The first act had more coherence than the second, which is a collection of songs again capturing aspects of interpersonal dynamics, but without the clear sense of where things are going.

The performers change from formal black and white attire to colorful outfits, and each song stands alone rather than fit into any framework of plot.

The three performers are definitely talented singers, and the two women especially have great comic skills, especially Ms Katz, whose droll facial expressions and body language convey all sorts of  sarcastic nuance when she isn’t pleased.

Richard Maltby Jr’s lyrics are frequently as clever as, say, Sondheim’s, and more appealing than the music (a single piano accompaniment), which tended to be too loud and a bit jangly for this reviewer’s taste. However, the cabaret ambience created by having the audience seated at round tables about The Alexandria Room was an ideal setting for this show, which is basically a nightclub style revue.

Drinks and refreshments were available, and the packed house was made up of people who definitely seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Real professional entertainment, right here on Main Street in town, and that’s a definite plus. Kate Katcher’s company continues to be a fine addition to the Newtown cultural scene. Unlike earlier shows by Stray Kats, this one will run for four performances over two weeks, so there is still a chance to see it.

(Performances are Friday and Saturday, July 27-28, in The Alexandria Room of Edmond Town Hall, 45 Main Street in Newtown.

See the Enjoy Calendar, in print and online, for curtain, ticket and other details.)