“Junk”: A Rock Opera at the Lyric Theatre

 

So I try to get out as much as I can to the theater. Whether I go alone or with someone, I find the experience about the same. So Saturday night, after my date canceled at the last minute, I headed to the Lyric Theater on La Brea to see “Junk”. I had come across it on Goldstarevents.com Wednesday and decided it would make a good opening to a Saturday night. It had gotten decent to good reviews on there so I wanted to give it a try and see for myself what was the buzz about.

Lets get right into it. Half way through the first act, I was so lost, I started to read the synopsis to understand what was going on. And yes I’ve been a rock opera before, a real opera, a rock musical (hedwig, rocky) and I come from a theater background. You could hardly understand the words due to the mediocre singing and the horrid sound mix. The band was too loud and was overpowering the singer despite all the performers being miked and the drums which were behind Plexiglas.

Here’s how they describe it:

Junk Incorporated owns the last great city…Legend says all the planet is covered in garbage, save for one last megalopolis. Anna, a Junk employee who longs for fame, sacrifices her punk ideals for a chance to headline in the world’s last nightclub. To get there she must choose between her shot at the spotlight or the possibility of true romance. A social satire with a live band and a full rock score, Junk spins the story of tragic love and naive pride into an epic tale of power and stardom.

Everything was sang to a song, as this was a ‘rock opera’ (more like a rock musical but who am I to judge, hah) and it seemed as though they just kept on repeating themselves over and over in the song instead of actually telling a story. There was no plot.

Now I try to go into seeing shows without reading that they are about, the story line, and I try to read as few of reviews as I can so I won’t have a opinion before I go. This one I wish I would have read the story. Even after reading how the story goes, I get what’s going on, but there’s no reason behind it. It makes you wonder if the writer and or director just got so caught up with this story that was in their head that they didn’t know how to put it down into words.

There seems to be no character development what so ever. Even with hearing nothing, you should be able to grasp what’s going on through the acting and the emotions the actors are portraying. No such luck here. Even in operas where it’s in another language, you can pretty much get it from tone and from watching it. You’re supposed to be able to hear the passion and the drives.

Even things in this show that were supposed to shock, didn’t even make me flinch. The costumes in the first act looked like they were straight out of the 1950s. Yes it was an office scene okay, but then you have another character in the same scene in more 70s clothes, then out of nowhere a drag queen geisha is there after I thought he killed himself in the opening of the show? Then randomly everyone is in neon tights and thongs and leg warmers. Yes, then men too. That’s another thing… the male actors with the exception of a few were total queens. Maybe that’s apart of the plot? I donno. But it seems like they were more portraying a part of who they were as opposed to what a script told them to do.

The choreography and dancing were decent. It was hard to connect the dancing to the story or what the actors were doing in the scene… didn’t quite seem to fit. The lighting design was average. Not a whole lot you can do with a small space. The set design was cheap. Not very creative, looked like a bunch of high schoolers put it together in half an hour. Props were left out on stage or thrown under the riser in full view of the audience. Some dancing was done low to the floor which you can’t see if you’re further back than the second row as the chairs and basically almost level with the stage floor.

Good Points: the band is great, the music is so so. I know there’s a lot of talent in that band just wanting to come out but it doesn’t really happen in this setting. The space is nice. Good location of the theater. I hate theater row in Hollywood as there is never any parking. I also think there is some talent in the show, totally, it just seems like some of the actors were starved for work.

There’s got to be better scripts out there. This city is starved for good writing. Both in TV and FIlm and the stage. I wish I had the talent to write something and create something grand.

I give it a 4 of out 10 on my LA theater rating scale. Meaning not comparing it to NYC or professionally run theater companies. That was hard to write. I thought about that but really, this company seems like a second thought and doesn’t seem professional.

I beg of people to please step back for a minute, clear your mind, and look at your work for what it is and how a outsider would see it.

Looked like the performers had a awesome time though. I just wish they could translate that to the audience.

BTW, the people sitting beside me had the exact same thoughts on the missing plot. So I know it wasn’t just me here. And to even more present that I’m not just being a negative bitch, I have a friend that’s a dancer in this show so, if anything, I should be giving it great reviews. But I’m honest and straight with you.

And one final thing, the cost, $40, no way was it worth that. I got my tickets at half price through GoldStar Events for $20 plus a $5 processing fee. If you really want to go, buy through GoldStar, and if you’re not a member, click the GoldStar link on the right and sign up. It’s free and takes like two minutes.

This was my first time at the Lyric Theater. It’s a much nicer space than most of the holes in the walls in theater row in Hollywood. Small but functional space.

Lyric Theater
http://www.lyrictheatrela.com/
520 N. LaBrea Ave., Los Angeles
Performances: August 30 – September 30 Thurs – Sat @ 8pm
Sunday Specials: September 16, 23 & 30 @ 7pm
Cost: $40 or $25 through GoldStar Events

Follow up: So I’ve started to get comments about how I’m so wrong and how this musical is so great. I’ve got nothing against this show, I’m just looking at it for what it is. The music aside from the show is pretty good. You throw the music with the show and it kills it for me. Taking great albums and throwing it into a musical doesn’t always work well. For instance, look at a new musical movie that comes out soon that I worked on set to some of the best rock pop albums of all time. It’s an amazing movie with a bad plot. I can’t say the name cause of legal stuff until it comes out but you can figure it out.

Yes the show got a standing ovation. I was shocked. I was one that didn’t stand up until the curtain call because well, I couldn’t see my friend unless I did stand up. But honestly you people don’t know good theater. I can respect it in the sense that yes, it’s a written, brought to a stage completed piece of work. That’s very hard in itself, but just as in any art form, it doesn’t always produce a great end product.

Have any of you people seen Hedwig and the Angry Inch? Compare that to this. Did you see The Beastly Bombing? It was in LA, and won best musical last year and had a story in the NY Times about it. It called itself a rock opera. Did you see The Playground last year in LA? That was fucking fantastic rock musical last year in LA. All these were original works in progress. Don’t comment or pretend you can compare unless you’ve seen all these. Other wise, I’m not going to respect what you have to say.

Those were good shows. Think about the songs, the writing, the character development, and compare it to Hedwig. Wait, you can’t. Doesn’t even come close. This is a professional theater company. I expect a show that is something better than a high school drama troupe could do. I worked with more professional theater companies when I was in high school. I’ve done a lot of theater, a lot of technical sound and lighting design, set design, and I’m a classically trained musician (piano and bass) with a shit load of music theory drilled into my head. I know what is what. I can hear a parallel fifth. haha

Leave your comments. I still don’t like the show.