Life Could Be a Dream

Californian cabaret guru Roger Bean opens the next in a growing number of original musicals at the Rep’s Stackner Cabaret. The same man who brought Milwaukee The Marvelous Wonderettes, The Andrews Brothers and Lana Mae’s Honky Tonk Laundrydebuts his latest, Life Could Be A Dream. Though it’s not quite as accomplished as previous revues, Life is a fun look back at the 1960s doo-wop experience.

When a local radio station announces a contest to find the next big musical sensation, Denny (New Yorker Ben Cherry, who last appeared with The Rep in The Andrews Brothers) decides to put together an act in hopes of winning the hot rod of his dreams. With his awkward choir-boy friend Eugene (Richard Israel in his Rep debut), he forms a doo-wop group – complete with choreography – and the opening song is a shaky rendition of the title song by the pair.

The group grows to include Piggly Wiggly clerk Wally (Justin Robertson) and auto mechanic Skip (Carlos Martin), and together the friends polish, mature, and struggle as they all become infatuated with the same girl. The show closes with a medley featuring the entire group in a much more sophisticated version of the title song. It can be tricky to do show such progress convincingly, but under the direction of Bean and chorographer Pam Kriger, the cast gives an excellent performance.

The only woman in the cast – Julia Graham as Lois – provides much of the conflict within the fledgling doo-wop group. In a particularly smart bit of musical arrangement , each of the guys expresses his feelings for her in a medley featuring “Devil or Angel,” “Earth Angel” and “Only You.” Ben Cherry is inherently likeable as Denny, but he hasn’t been given much more to do than be nice and try to organize things. Some of the best lines are Justin Robertson’s as Wally in an entertaining comic role. But there aren’t as many laughs as there have been in previous Bean shows – and Bean has done the “nice, quirky people thrust into a spotlight” thing before in a number of his revues, so the story feels a little dull.

Everything holds together pretty well in Life Could Be A Dream, but without the novel spark of comic wit so characteristic of Bean, it simply isn’t a clever as his previous work. VS

The Milwaukee Rep’s Production of Life Could Be A Dream runs through November 4 at the Stackner Cabaret. Tickets can be purchased in advance by calling 414-224-9490 or online at www.milwaukeerep.com