San Diego Playbill - Theatre Reviews

How did a play with no singing and no original music win a 2000 Tony Award for Best Musical? By making contact with audiences through dancing that proves to be just as adept at storytelling as are lyrics. Directed and choreographed by Susan Stroman (a three-time Tony winner as well as director/choreographer of Broadway's current smash hit, The Producers), this highly original and entertaining play uses the language of dance to tell the story and touch the audience.

Contact is comprised of three steamy short stories whose common theme is of people making mental and physical contact with one another through dance. The first is a very short, cute little interlude set in the 18th century with a young woman (Mindy Franzese Wild) being courted by a young aristocrat (Andrew Asnes) whilst a young servant (Keith Kuhl) pushes her on a swing. But she is far more interested in the servant than the aristocrat and soon sends her suitor away to get some more wine, giving her and the servant an opportunity to have a little fling on the swing. Clever choreography and Mindy's humorous expressions of delight and surprise make this a nice little intro to the idea of Contact. The stunts they perform on the swing should not be done at home, although you might be tempted to try.

This is followed by what is easily the highlight of the show both for story and acting. "Did You Move?" is set in 1954 when a husband takes his wife to an Italian restaurant in Queens. The wife (Meg Howrey) makes every effort to make conversation and brighten her husband's (Adam Dannheisser) day. Unfortunately for her, she is married to a cruel, incessantly angry ogre of a man who abuses her both verbally and physically. It's not just that he hates his wife. He hates everyone. And he keeps walking away from the table in an effort to get some f---ing rolls from a busboy, leaving her with the explicit instructions: "Don't talk. Don't smile. Don't f---ing move."

She uses these brief opportunities to escape mentally from her sad life. In an imaginary world, she playfully dances by herself, messes with the other patrons, and has a romantic tryst with the Headwaiter (Gary Franco). But will she ever be able to transfer her fun, joyous fantasy life into the real world? One moment hysterical, the next tragic, Meg Howrey creates a most beautiful and memorable character as the fantasizing wife. By the end you can feel the entire audience breathlessly hoping and urging her to escape.

The final scene, called "Contact," contains the most widely recognizable symbol of Contact: the Girl in the Yellow Dress (played by the stunning dancing dynamo Holly Cruikshank). After cynical advertising exec Michael Wiley (Alan Campbell) makes several unsuccessful attempts at suicide in his apartment (disturbing his poor neighbor below who is trying to get some sleep), he temporarily gives up on death and finds himself in a very peculiar nightclub. There he meets an all-knowing bartender played by Adam Dannheisser, just recently despised as the abusive husband, but now amusing us as the bizarre tender of the bar. Night after night the same people arrive to swing to the groovy music, including the Girl in the Yellow Dress whom every guy wants to dance with. Michael Wiley is completely smitten. She keeps flirting with him, too. But he can't seem to muster the nerve to grab her and dance. Will he embrace life and dance with the Girl in the Yellow Dress, or die a lonely death in his apartment?

One great story, along with two entertaining stories, highlighted with incredible dancing and fun music ranging from classical (Tchaikovsky, Grieg, Bizet's March of the Three Kings) to great dance tunes including Big Band classics, Runaround Sue, Beyond the Sea, and Simply Irresistible, combine to delight all the senses in this spectacular show that so richly articulates the powerful human desire to connect with another person.

Rob Hopper
San Diego Playbill

~ Cast ~

Frenchman/Waiter/Clubgoer: Andrew Asnes
Cigarette Girl/Clubgoer: Aliane Baquerot
Waiter: Christopher Lee Body
Michael Wiley: Alan Campbell
Girl in the Yellow Dress: Holly Cruikshank
Husband/Bartender/Voice Messages: Adam Dannheisser
Restaurant Patron/Clubgoer: Donna Dunmire
Headwaiter: Gary Franco
Busboy/Clubgoer: Stacey Todd Holt
Wife: Meg Howrey
Jack: Mike Jackson
Swing: Danielle Jolie
Frenchman/Uncle Vinnie/Johnny: Keith Kuhl
Restaurant Patron/Clubgoer: Jason Lacayo
Swing: Joseph Mooradian
Clubgoer: Ipsita Paul
Dance Captain/Swing: Angela Piccinni
Swing: John G. Ross
Restaurant Patron/Clubgoer: Julius Sermonia
Photographer/Clubgoer: Rebecca Sherman
Dance Captain/Swing: Rick Spaans
Restaurant Patron/Clubgoer: Susanne Trani
Swing: Michelle Weber
Girl on the Swing/Clubgoer: Mindy Franzese Wild

Author: John Weidman
Director/Choreographer: Susan Stroman
Set Designer: Thomas Lynch
Costume Designer: William Ivey Long
Lighting Designer: Peter Kaczorowski
Sound Designer: Scott Stauffer