Month: June 2023

Comics creator faces his ‘Savage’ truth

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By Wendy Carson 

“Where do you get the ideas for your stories?” It’s an age-old question that authors are always being asked. Rebecca Gorman O’Neill shows one man’s answer in her brilliant script, “Mynx & Savage,” currently being offered by StageWorthy Productions in their new Irvington location.

Comic book writer/artist Adam Mark Evans (Josh Cornell) has his popular superhero series, “Mynx & Savage,” rapidly approaching its 100th issue. However, he’s been missing deadlines for quite a while, so the publishing house has sent in a brilliant new inker and colorist, Ket (Kayla Cange), to get his script and drawing back on track and help him better manage his time.

Initially, the two hilariously chafe each other raw; it’s Ket’s passion for the storyline that adheres their partnership. Secretly a huge fan of Adam’s work, including an award-winning graphic novel, Ket is dying to see his secret project “that all writers have going on the back burner.” They eventually wear him down, getting a brief peek at some pages, but the truth of that story, Adam fears, could destroy him.

Cornell does a great job of bringing Adam’s damaged psyche through without making him a victim or martyr. Cangle adeptly balances Ket’s justifiable ego regarding their skills with the actual passion of being a part of something they have loved for years.

While all of this is happening, Emma Howell and Tanner Brunson portray the titular characters, as well as others needed throughout. Though their roles seem secondary, they are the true stars of the show. Fully embracing the drawn characters, no matter what storylines or scene changes are thrown at them, they keep their tones in context without slipping into camp. However, their talent is displayed best as Jill & Kyle (who are actually at a camp), the subjects of Adam’s secret story.

Brunson gives Kyle all the vulnerability and bravado of a young boy trying to deal with the struggles of his personal life without his Summer Break bestie knowing. Howell shows Jill as a feisty young girl, tired of always living in the shadow of her two older sisters and ready to be her all, yet still with fears of her own.

I must admit that John and I were definitely among the target audience of the script, I also felt that those in our audience who were not necessarily comics fans enjoyed the show as well. Do note that there is a smattering of curse words, including an F-bomb Adam finds distasteful, so be warned the show is not ideal for very young children – think PG-13.

Directed by StageWorthy Artistic Director John Kastner, this Indiana premiere has three more performances, Friday through Sunday (June 30, July 1-2) at the Stage Door Theater, 5635 Bonna Ave. (on the Pennsy Trail, across from Strangebird), Indianapolis. For ticket info, visit stageworthy.org or call 317-750-6454.

Footlite: Dancers put it all on the ‘Line’

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By John Lyle Belden

Footlite Musicals opens its 2023-24 season with a summer Young Adults (college-age) production of the 1975 Broadway phenomenon, “A Chorus Line.”

With original concept and direction by Michael Bennett, book by James Kirkwood and Nicholas Dante, music by Marvin Hamlisch and lyrics by Edward Kleban, the musical collected 9 Tonys (of 12 nominations) and a Pulitzer, and became the longest-running show on Broadway, prior to “Cats.” This might not be news to you, but I mention it anyway to note this is a major undertaking for any company, especially considering it has a cast of 19, all with song parts and lines, plus another eight in support. And at points, they are all on stage, dancing for their lives.

This is the story of those who call themselves Broadway “gypsies” (given modern sensibilities, I won’t repeat that), the working dancers who strive for parts in the chorus, backing up the stars everyone actually came to see.  On a rehearsal stage, empty save for dance mirrors, some very talented people are sought to blend into a perfect dancing background for an unnamed star in an upcoming major musical production. They vary in age (though all look in their 20s), background and ability. Zach (Kendrell Stiff) has one day to sort this out – “four boys, four girls.”

With the help of assistant Larry (Parker Taylor), the line is trimmed to 17 hopefuls. To Zach’s astonishment, they include aging former featured dancer Cassie (Julia Ammons). He feels this is beneath her; she feels she badly needs a job.

We get some interesting characters, each with their quirks: Kristine (Sarah Tewes) and Al (Thomas McEvilly) are married; Connie (Jocelyn Evans) is short; Val (Taylor Moss) is – um – stacked; Mike (Sam Schultz) “can do that;” Sheila (Kelsey McDaniel) puts up a tough front, but softens in “At the Ballet” with Bebe (Isabella Davis) and Maggie (Alanna Porter); aspiring actress Diana (Mayi Reyes) is no-nonsense; we also have Judy (Sierra Shelton), Richie (Kipp Morgan), Don (Cordale Hankins), Mark (Samuel Smith), Greg (Nathan Brown), Bobby (Tyler Williams), and Paul (Troy Bridges) who brilliantly gives us one of the best non-musical moments. The initially cut dancers, played by Bailey Rae Harmon, Katie Kobold, Bailee Davis, Wayden Wagoner, Jim Melton, Peter Valentino, Tyler Swinford, and Jared Harris, reappear in various musical numbers, especially to back up the others’ personal stories. Director-choreographers Rick and Chris Barber didn’t let any of this immense talent go to waste.

In an ensemble, it’s tough to give individual praise, but where the story lands on a person’s shoulders, each ably handles the load with a song and a step-kick, or a refreshing punch line. Stiff is solid as the enigmatic director who presents a cold façade, but a genuine curiosity about and concern for the auditioners. Shiny hats off to Ammons for handling the exhausting song-and-dance of “Music and the Mirror,” and especially to Reyes for keeping the wide-ranging hit “What I Did for Love” wonderfully under control.

Dare I indulge the cliché? This Chorus Line is the “One” to see. (A “singular sensation!”) Performances run through July 9 at 1847 N. Alabama St. in downtown Indianapolis. For info and tickets, go to footlite.org.

Even in a farcical disaster, ‘Play On!’

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By John Lyle Belden

The thing about hometown community theatre, when it’s good, it’s great; when it’s bad, it’s… an experience.

In “Play On!” by Rick Abbot, presented by CrazyLake Performance in Greenfield, it’s days before the opening of a new play called “Murder Most foul” (not the story you’re probably thinking of). Director Gerry Dunbar (Trever Brown) took it on because the local playwright, Phyllis Montague (Petra Russell) isn’t charging royalties. However, she is still revising the script, daily – including today.

This makes things rough, to say the least, on the cast: devoted thespian couple Henry and Polly (Corey Yeaman and Rai Ortman); Billy (Luke Agee), who will play the detective; Violet (Alexandra Gawrys-Strand) the ingenue; stage veteran Saul (R. Brian Noffke); and high-schooler Smitty (Olivia Greer). They, stage manager Andy (Ethan Stearns), all-around tech Louise (Alex Ross), and Gerry struggle to get through even a single act’s run-through.

Brown is great at this kind of role, the character in the eye of a storm of things going sideways; and he has one heck of a hurricane in Phyllis’s constant changes, the actors’ growing uncertainty, and a vital central prop that keeps changing names. Russell, for her infuriating part, smartly plays it with naïve aplomb.

As for the cast within the cast, director Christine Schaefer said it was a struggle at first to get these actors to adjust to things going wrong, like dropped lines, being “right,” and to seem to forget all they knew and comically overact. Yeaman’s semaphore-like gesticulations and Ortman’s melodramatic moves are a hoot. Noffke, no stranger to the wacky, has to amp up his own impishness to match.

The result? Wendy and I have rarely laughed so hard. The constant punchlines, sight-gags, and other farcical elements make classics of this style like “Noises Off” look almost sedate. If you’ve dealt with live theatre, or any situation where things can go very publicly wrong, you can’t help but appreciate every hilarious moment.

Upon reflection, it seems there is the seed of a fairly decent whodunit in the play within this play, but what we get instead may be far more rewarding, and worth the jaunt out to The H.J. Ricks Centre for the Arts, 122 E. Main St. (U.S. 40) in downtown Greenfield. As I post this, it opens tomorrow with performances June 23, 24, 30, July 1 and 2. Tickets are just $10 in advance at CrazyLakeActing.com or at Hometown Comics & Games, 1040 N. State St. in Greenfield, or $15 at the door. 

Youths share lessons of ‘Godspell’

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By John Lyle Belden

As a story of Jesus Christ, the 1971 musical “Godspell,” by John-Michael Tebelak with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, goes beyond the traditional Passion Play to give the greater context of what in Jesus’ actions and teachings won him followers, then brought him to the events of the Crucifiction. As a theatre production, it has a degree of flexibility allowing for creative stagings and inserting modern references to allow audiences to relate to a story from around 30 AD nearly 2000 years later.

It is also an easy – and given its playful mood, appropriate – Broadway show to cast with teen and tween actors. Carmel Community Players presents “Godspell” as its summer Rising Star Production with youths in all roles, directed by Tanya Haas, who notes she first performed the musical in high school.

Our setting is a well-stocked child’s playroom, with lots of toys, plushes, crafts, etc., to aid in the lessons our peer teacher, Jesus (Mason Yeater), has come to share. But first, John the Baptist (Nick Lantzer) must rally the kids together, his anointing represented by a bubble wand.

Jesus presents favors to each of the gathered disciples, in this case, ribbon pins. He gives the black ribbon to Lantzer, who from then on plays Judas. (This is the only other named biblical figure, the others are given random modern names to keep them relatable. I could guess who appears to me to represent Simon Peter or Mary Magdeline, but that’s beside the point.)

As anyone familiar with this show, or the Gospel of Matthew, knows, we get a number of Christian Parables, including “The Good Samaritan” and “The Sower and the Seed,” told and enacted by various cast members – along with a couple of people momentarily pulled from the audience.

The various songs, including “Day By Day” and “Light of the World,” feature vocals by all: Isabella Bardos, Emmy Bobenmoyer, Joey Brandenburg, Fender Brokamp, Rachel Bush, Jack Levine, Tatum Meadors, Morgan Rusbasan, Quincy Russell, Greta Shambarger, Owen Yeater and Quinn Yeater, as well as the two leads.

Performances are executed with the youthful energy and humor that makes this personally one of my favorite musicals. Recent high school grad Mason Yeater has great stage presence, able to say with a glance that he understands what in the plot must be taken seriously, even when all are just having fun. In the role’s original look – face makeup and Superman shirt with rainbow suspenders to show his “jester’s license” to speak truth to authority – Jesus is gentle, yet never mocked. Lantzer makes Judas seem kinda sus from the jump, and effectively keeps up the actions of a man willing to play along as long as this movement suits his goals.

All Disciples have their moments. Bush rises to the challenge of both popular numbers “Day By Day” and “Turn Back, O Man.” Shambarger celebrates “Bless the Lord” and duets on “Beautiful City” with Brandenburg. Bardos and Meadors join for “By My Side.” 

There was just a month of rehearsal, so still some rough edges on opening, but the kids are all right, and should be more than ready to bring the “Light of the World” to the stage this weekend (June 22-25) at the Ivy Tech Auditorium, 300 N. 17th St., Noblesville. For information and tickets, see carmelplayers.org or call 317-815-9387.

Life gets funnier with age for these ‘Girls’

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By John Lyle Belden

“Life is like Jello,” says Carlene, the “black widow of Eden Falls.” We’re not sure if that’s true, but we did find ourselves shaking a lot – from laughter – at “The Hallelujah Girls,” the Jones Hope Wooten comedy on stage at Epilogue Players, directed by Therese Burns.

Lea Ellingwood plays manicurist Carlene, thrice widowed and giving up on love, while Barbara Lemay is her sister, Crystal, who hasn’t been the same since that tornado, yet is ever joyous with her celebration – complete with baking and invented “carols” – of every calendar holiday. They join Mavis (Elizabeth Popplewell), who doesn’t mind time away from her frustratingly drab husband, and Nita (Tracy Brunner) who escapes with trashy romance novels like her ne’er-do-well son likes to escape his parole officer, to meet up with Sugar Lee (Valerie Nowosielski) at a long-abandoned church. In the wake of a mutual friend passing away without realizing her dreams, Sugar has decided this building will become her new day-spa, and she needs her fellow 50-plus ladies to pitch in.

At first reluctant at this mutual midlife project, the others agree, and Spa-Dee-Dah! becomes the Georgia town’s newest hotspot, complete with sauna. Not everyone is thrilled with this, as social vultu- I mean butterfly Bunny Sutherland (Elizabeth Ruddell) wanted to raze the old church and build a museum to hersel- I mean the town. Her first attempt at sabotage fails; sending Sugar’s ex-fiance Bobby Dwayne (Brad Burns) to take the renovation contract gives the women the most reliable worker in the area. Sugar and Bobby smolder below the surface, but she refuses to forgive him for what happened the day of their high school graduation, tolerating him until the work is done.

Meanwhile, single postal worker Porter (Grant Bowen), having survived a near-death experience, decides to court Carlene. Noticing the women working at the former church, he dubs them “the Hallelujah Girls.”

The play takes place over a year of Fridays, when the Girls routinely gather, highlighted by Crystal’s latest over-the-top costume. There are the ups and downs of starting a small business, Bunny’s endless plotting, and, my, Bobby Dwayne does look good in them shorts, right, Sugar Lee?

Still, through all the laughs and fun, one bad swing of the hammer brings certain disaster. Given the setting, maybe they’ll get a miracle.

Epilogue Players was established as a place for those 50 and older to shine, so this show is a perfect fit, with lively performances by these young-at-heart actors. The wisecracks about aging sound genuine, but with more good humor than despair, striking the funny bone just right. Also, the costume outfits Burns comes up with for Crystal are a treat in themselves. Everyone is sweet-tea refreshing, except for Bunny, whom Ruddell makes just as deliciously evil.

Amanda Greene is assistant director and stage manager. And a hat-tip to props master Diane McGuire for finding the “Why limit Happy to one Hour?” sign that could serve as a theme for the whole project.

With an upbeat theme that it is never too late in life to work on your dreams (including romance), hilarity liberally scattered throughout, and a lesson on the true value of a good peach brandy, this is a fun escape from the local Georgia-like heat, with remaining performances Thursday through Sunday, June 22-25, at 1849 N. Alabama St. (corner of 19th and Alabama), downtown Indianapolis. Tickets and info at epilogueplayers.com.

Asaykwee presents tragic story of “Triangle”

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By John Lyle Belden

On Saturday, March 25, 1911, just minutes before the workday was to end, a fire broke out in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory on the upper floors of a Greenwich Village building in New York. In minutes it would bring about the deaths of 146 people, and afterward, an outcry for better working conditions for all laborers.

That death toll was 123 women and girls (as young as 14) and 23 men. They all had names; they had lives. In “Triangle,” a stunning drama by Ben Asaykwee presented at the Phoenix Theatre Cultural Center, we hear their names; we see their faces; we get a glimpse of those lives.

This is one of Asaykwee’s projects in which stage veterans mentor young actors. With this production the approach was more collaborative than one-on-one, assistant director Kallen Ruston said, building the kind of close contact and camaraderie that the garment workers they play would have felt. Thus, we have Shelbi Berry Kamohara, Maddie Deeken, Shawnté Gaston, MaryAnne Mathews, David Mosedale, Jennifer Simms, and Georgeanna Smith Wade aside teens Toni Jazvic, Gennesis Galdamez, Sophia Huerta, Paula Hopkins, Zoe Lowe, Juliet Malherbe, and Novalee Simms. In all, an excellent ensemble performance.

The play starts with a warm March day being even more unbearable with hundreds of people and machines in such close quarters. While their hands are in constant motion, their minds are occupied with familiar workplace chatter. There’s a breeze at the window. There’s talk of unions. The last strike made things better, and it didn’t. One of the girls is engaged! Someone is hurt by a needle! How much will the pay be this week? Someone needs to put water in those fire buckets…

The second act is Saturday afternoon. It’s even hotter, and that’s before someone on the eighth floor notices smoke. In 1911, locked doors and flimsy fire escapes were common, and the fire truck ladder only reaches to the sixth floor…

Only a couple of the people represented on stage will survive the ordeal. Asaykwee’s insightful script gives us a feel for what all must have felt – a cry from Beyond that later generations must heed. We hear their names; we see their story. And with it, we also get a parable of American greed, with what can happen if the only concern is the bottom line, and those in charge ignoring what might not happen because it hasn’t, until it does.

The narrative also includes glimpses of reformers, suffragettes, and other signs of the era’s restlessness. But as a practical matter, if you didn’t do that job for what little you get, you don’t eat; so there they were, at their machines when hell literally broke loose.

The staging hints at the claustrophobic work floor with the smaller Phoenix stage covered in chairs, the audience close at hand on all four sides of the “black box” room. Ruston said the costuming reflects a timeless look, with period skirts but more recent-looking colored ribbons in girls’ hair, allowing us to see ourselves or the women in our lives in them.

Performances of “Triangle” continue June 22-25 (Thursday the 22nd is sold out) at 705 N. Illinois St. For tickets and info, see phoenixtheatre.org.

Drama at District a raw look at recovery

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By John Lyle Belden

Ever had a “toxic” relationship? How about literally toxic.

“Drugs and alcohol have never let me down. They have always loved me.”

These are the words of Emma, a struggling actress at the center of “People, Places & Things” by Duncan Macmillan (writer of “Every Brilliant Thing”) which had a successful London premiere in 2015. Stage Door Productions brings it to Indianapolis, nurtured and directed by Kevin Caraher, playing at The District Theatre on Mass Ave.

Emma (Trick Blanchfield), scarred by traumas of which we will learn, whole-heartedly believes her statement above, but comes to suspect the chemicals’ love is destroying her. To quote an unrelated work, breaking up is hard to do.

She prefers to live in the masks of the characters she portrays, but they are starting to blur into one another. The play opens with her on the stage of a classic work, having a dissociative episode. When she inevitably checks into rehab, she claims the name of the character she plays. During her recovery and relapses, she is accompanied by shadows of herself (Sara Williams, Audrey Stonerock, Cara Wilson).

Thus, the central point-of-view character is also an unreliable narrator, bringing to bear one of the frustrating factors of recovery. Even when the person wants to change and craves help, lying has become as natural as breathing, especially to one’s self. Macmillan’s words effectively keep the audience following the plot off-balance: Is Emma’s brother dead, as she says, and which set of circumstances she relates are true? Do the no-nonsense Nurse at the rehab center and happy-shiny Therapist for group sessions actually look like her Mom (all played pitch-perfect by Denise Jaeckel)? Are her parents as deeply flawed and toxic in their own way as she claims? Is even her name what she says it is at any point?

Emma’s love of stagecraft becomes a vector for hard lessons as other members of Group use her as their sounding-board for “exercises” in what each recovering addict will say to a significant person in their lives. Mark (Ryan Powell in an award-worthy performance), who immediately sees through her BS, gets that ball rolling, and continues to challenge her throughout the play. He has gained wisdom the hard way, including understanding without mentioning it that any (if this were Hollywood) romantic connection would just be the chemicals and desperation talking. (Thank you, Mr. Macmillan, for dodging that trope.)  

Other members of Group, played by Tailynn Downing, Anna Himes, Matt Kraft, David Molloy, Adrienne Reiswerg, and Bryan Ball Carvajal (as Foster, past patient and present staffer) each have their own perspective of addiction, relating the various paths both the downward spiral and upward climb can take. Then there’s brave, brilliant Dan Flahive as Paul, the patient who takes things too far, whose higher power is apparently a schizophrenic Jesus. What could be, and to a small extent is, played as comic relief becomes a look into the abyss any staffer or past patient of such a facility has seen too often.

Still, in contrast to Emma, the others “get it,” the reason why they are there, that they are sick and desire to truly get well.

Some might see thematic similarities to the 2000 recovery rom-com film, “28 Days,” starring Sandra Bulloch, but this story has a lot more raw, authentic-feeling edges and is better played through the style and magical realism of live theatre. It reflects the real-world fact that one visit to an institution is rarely enough. Also, know that not all its characters will be alive at the end of the play.

Saving the best for last, I’ll note that Blanchfield is truly outstanding. She draws on wells of pain and strength like few can, while somehow getting some hope in that bucket. She communicates “hot mess” while still making us want to root for her. We are blessed beyond reason to have her recently join the central Indiana theatre scene.

In a lighter note (and there are a few) we do get to see an actor nearly naked – and it’s not who you might expect (consider yourself warned).

A huge thank you to Caraher for getting this masterpiece to Indy, and executing it so well, and hat-tip to stage managers Whitney Leigh and Amelie Zirnheld. While this has a simple set, by Kathy Hoefgen, it is notable for the visual metaphor that the “EXIT,” whether triumphant or tragic, is always there.

Performances continue tonight (as I post this), Sunday, and next weekend with two shows on Saturday, through June 25. For tickets, visit indydistricttheatre.org. (Note to Googlers: There is a Stage Door Productions in Virginia, so for the Indiana company, look up their Facebook page.)

‘Trailer Park Musical’ a hit at BCP

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By John Lyle Belden

It’s been some years since Indianapolis theatre-goers got to look in on Armadillo Acres, Florida’s most wacky mobile home community, but “The Great American Trailer Park Musical” has returned, presented by Buck Creek Players.

In this fun bit of redneck revelry, manager Betty (Claire Slaven) keeps the lights on, Lin (Georgeanna Teipen) puts on even more lights in a strategy to keep her death-row husband alive, and Pickles (Claire Gray) is fairly sure this time she’s actually pregnant. Meanwhile agoraphobic Jeannie (Amelia Tryon) is gathering the courage to leave her trailer for the first time in decades so she can join husband Norbert (Jeremy Teipen) on an Anniversary date to see the Ice Capades.

Storms blow into Florida all the time; our present force of nature is Pippi (Emily Gaddy), an exotic dancer hoping she escaped from unbalanced boyfriend Duke (Josh Rooks) – who should arrive by Act Two.

Directed by Ben Jones, the silliness is tempered with a bit of heartache – and a moment of gunplay – but it all works out like a comedy musical should. Tryon and Gaddy, especially, give fabulous performances. Gray manages the sort of genius that plays “box of hair” dumb while still charming. And Rooks isn’t usually the intimidating sort, but adds just a hint of psycho to pull off our marker-fume-addled bad boy.

Hats off (but not too long, for sunburn) to set designer Matt Gray for the on-stage trailers (including Jeannie and Norbert’s cutaway) and stage manager Suzi Brown.

With book by Betsy Kelso and songs by David Nehls, “The Great American Trailer Park Musical” has one more weekend left at 11150 Southeastern Ave. (Acton Road exit off I-74). As of this posting, Friday is sold out, but there are two performances Saturday, June 17, and a matinee Sunday, June 18. Go to buckcreekplayers.com for details.

And while you’re there, consider giving to the fundraising drive for improvements to the playhouse entry. Your donation “buys” a little pink flamingo with your name that gets added to the campaign display.

‘August’ in June in Westfield

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By John Lyle Belden

It may be cliché, but the phrase “putting the ‘fun’ in dysfunctional” completely fits the Tony and Pulitzer winning tragicomedy “August: Osage County” by Tracy Letts, now on stage for another weekend at the Basile Westfield Playhouse, presented by Main Street Productions, directed by Brent Wooldridge.

Set in in 2007 in rural Oklahoma, where the hills near Tulsa meet the plains, we open with retired poet and professor Beverly Weston (Rob Lawson) hiring Johnna (Bella King) to help care for the house and his wife Violet (Sally Carter), who struggles with mental issues, cancer, and drug addiction. Being not related to anyone else in the play, the young Cheyenne woman will be about the only truly sane and sensible character in the cast.

Soon, Beverly disappears and family members come out of the woodwork (or at least fly in from other states). Strain, secrets, and substance use all take their toll in scenes both hilarious and disturbing – often simultaneously.

Carter gives a tour de force performance, swinging from one extreme to another, to moments of cool rationality, throughout. In turn, Violet’s daughters have their own issues with which they don’t deal well: Barbara (Molly Bellner) divorcing husband Bill (Jeff Peabody) and at wits end with teen daughter Jean (Megan Janning); Ivy (Monya Wolf) chafing to get out from under her mother’s thumb while keeping a devastating secret; and Karen (Caity Withers), who is set to marry Steve (JB Scoble), a guy so sketchy he could only be from Florida. Meanwhile, Violet’s sister Mattie Fay (Julie Dutcher) spreads bitterness that only her saintly patient husband Charlie (Jim LaMonte) can tolerate, saving her sharpest barbs for “loser” adult son Little Charles (Jonathan Rogers). Also on hand is Sheriff Deon Gilbeau (Mike Bauerle), who was Barbara’s prom date in high school. Each of these actors get several moments to shine.

Set design by Ron Roessler gives us a full house to hold all the action, while allowing easy movement, visibility and acoustics (attic scenes were as audible as on stage). Susan Yeaw is stage manager.

Hearts and dishes will break in this skewed portrait of Americana. Performances are Thursday through Sunday, June 15-18, at 230 N. Union St., Westfield. Get info and tickets at westfieldplayhouse.org.  

Powerful forces at work in ‘Moon and Sea’

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By John Lyle Belden

Parts of what are now the Moon and Earth’s ocean bed once existed together, but a long-ago calamity separated them forever. Though the Moon and the Sea pull at each other, their yearning doesn’t stop the ever-increasing distance (1.5 inches a year, according to astronomers) between them.

This love story is the literal backdrop for “The Moon and the Sea,” a new musical by Douglas Lyons, with songs by Creighton Irons, presented live by Constellation Stage and Screen in Bloomington.

Singer-songwriters Charlie (Rico Lebron) and Erin (Naree Asherian) were solidly in each others’ orbit. He planned to make a visit to a seaside hideaway memorable for her, but that moment was usurped by the lovelorn spirits of Moon (Alexa Green) and Sea (Demetrio Alomar) communing in song and light.

Later, a moment of uncertainty divides our human lovers, leaving Charlie’s personal satellites – best friend Elijah (Scott Van Wye) and mother (Green) – to try to help him over the loss. Then, an open-mike night with amateur singer and “finance-bro” Doug (Jesse Townes) leads to a revelation of how much things have changed.

The pain of all-important choices reflects back and forth in song among the mortals, Moon, and the tides in an exceptional yet relatable love story.

Lebron gives us a great portrayal of a young man who confuses what he wants with what he needs, as we follow his rocky path of personal growth. Asherian’s aspirational young woman also has some learning to do, and the lessons come hard. Together in beautiful moments of song, we hear and see how wonderfully Charlie and Erin fit together, at least on stage. Townes gives us a man more noble than he would be portrayed in the Hallmark Movie version of this story; his aging frat-boy has feelings and perspective, too.

For their parts, Alomar and Green communicate passion and longing with operatic power. Under the direction of Josh Rhodes, the human and supernatural sides of this production mesh perfectly.

Van Wye makes a solid friend and gives appropriate moments of humor, as does Green as Mom and Rhonda the bartender.

The ending may surprise some, but I found it satisfying, and feel this truly new musical is worth experiencing. Performances run through June 25 at Waldron Auditorium, 122 S. Walnut St., Bloomington. For info and tickets visit seeconstellation.org.