Joe Slabe is feeling nostalgic. He’s looking back on the past fifteen years of his life through theatre and musicals, and it makes for an evening with musical performance, drinks, and a grand piano. It’s a cabaret-style production in cSpace’s theatre venue. Round tables are set up, and chairs are dispersed so the play unfolds in the audience. Four artists make up all the characters in Joe’s life, and he admits to blending some together to fit in the show. It’s a production about finding yourself and being true to yourself, filled with amazing musical composition and fine voices. Buy a drink and sit down to learn about Joe.
The play opens with Joe Slabe playing different songs on the piano in the middle of the stage. Joe introduces himself, and Stephen Ingram walks on stage. The charm of this production comes out when Joe, as the narrator of his own life, tells the audience that you have to suspend your disbelief because Stephen doesn’t look like Joe. He’s a whole lot taller, as Joe points out. We see Joe, David (Jason Lemmon), and Donna (Allison Lynch) all growing up together. Joe and Donna are musical geeks, while David is in theatre. They wind up going to university together, but Joe doesn’t enroll in music because his parents would throw a fit, and he wants them to keep paying for his education. The pressure to be what they want him to be is present throughout the play and is vocalized in the number ‘Anything’ where you can be anything you want to be, except what you want. We watch Joe grow up and conform to what he thinks is expected of him. He dates Donna, and they get married and have children. But Joe’s unhappiness shows up, and their relationship is frayed. He doesn’t realize how he cannot hide from himself and he cannot continue to lead a life he doesn’t want to lead.
This narrative is performed through musical numbers with insightful lyrics accompanied by violins and guitars. What this small cast does in this small space with their musical compositions is quite amazing. The song ‘Everything is Fine’ captures conflict in a marriage that is captured in the word ‘fine,’ so perfectly. Lynch’s voice is beautiful, and her pain is palpable in a marriage that isn’t working. Lemmon plays the part of David so well, being Joe’s foe and friend.
Director Valerie Ann Pearson ensures that the production makes the most of every bit of space and that the artists shine. Jocelyn Hoover Leiver choreographs the tap number when Ingram and Lemmon tap dance to ‘I’d Tap That.’ Cassie Holmes designs a simple set and lighting design with a textured sculpture in the back of the stage and clusters of lights adorning the ceiling.
It’s a nostalgic look back with the addition of three stellar artists to tell your story. Sit back with a drink and let the melodies and clever lyrics wash over you. Forte Musical Guild’s Buy Me a Drink, Joe runs until May 5th. Tickets are available online.
Photo Credit: Tim Nguyen