Only if you’re the unimaginative type. Ernest has a far more ambitious plan. This mild-mannered telemarketer is fed up with his drill sergeant of a boss, fed up with listening to people struggle to make excuses to hang up on him (“my dog is on fire” was the last straw), and fed up with being pushed around, bullied, and ignored by a society that hardly seems eager to let the meek inherit the earth.

His solution to it all: Making Ambrosia. No, we’re not talking about some kind of fruit salad here, or even the food of the gods. We’re talking about his own country called “Ambrosia” – seceding from the Union to create a haven “for little guys and dreamers” like him. All in his modest two-bedroom apartment.

Thus was born the original musical comedy with book and lyrics by Craig Bridger and music by Director Heather Megill, now including additional songs, lyrics, and storylines by Heather for the new 2003 edition currently playing at the Sunshine Brooks Theatre in Oceanside. As one might suspect from the storyline, such songs are filled with hilarious and often silly humor that is as imaginative as Ernest is, all set to a great variety of music and amusing choreography (Beth Megill).

The story is filled with wacky characters performed by actors who play the wackiness up to the wick, led by Keith Gemmell who seems a natural for the part of the sensitive and unassuming Ernest with big dreams and a gimp shoulder caused by an old Yahtzee injury. His road to Ambrosia begins at the office where his militaristic supervisor Ms. McCracken (Maggie McEniry) “inspires” the troops by making them sing the Company Mission praising rush-hour traffic, copies, fax, and covering their a--, “blah, blah, blah.” Ernest’s girlfriend Barbara (Catherine McEniry) is a little dubious about his idea at first, but soon realizes the beauty of the dream and begins taking charge with a full-blown marketing scheme to build up the Ambrosian population and jump-start the country’s industries of tourism and agriculture (consisting of corn grown near an open window). Catherine’s beautiful voice stands out throughout, beginning with her charming duet with Ernest as they begin their Nation For Two.

But it will soon be more than two, with new citizen and the first Miss Ambrosia, Cassie (Whitney Fortmueller), down on the corner holding a bouquet of corn and singing their enticing new national anthem Hail Ambrosia! Ernest, Barbara, and Cassie then team up to get the apartment/country ready for the immigrants who are sure to begin flocking to their country with the optimistic title number Making Ambrosia. So inspired are they, that Cassie and Barbara give their first visitor, CIA Special Agent Anders Guthrie (Tom Brault), what-for when he tries to squelch their vision before their first harvest of corn has been sown, serving notice to Anders with diverting directness in We’re Not Afraid of You, Uncle Sam! But winning the gruff and tough Agent Guthrie onto their side might be a cakewalk compared to their delightfully crabby old neighbor Carla (Charlene Buhlert) who thinks her noisy next-door neighbors are as nutty as they really are.

But the brightest nuttiness comes in the guise of the disheveled Pizza Guy (Kevin Klauber). He delivers the laughs and the pizza at the end of the first act (note: you can get real pizza in the lobby during intermission!) when he and Cassie fall in love at first sight in the melodramatically romantic Could It Be You?, their hearts melting like mozzarella cheese, while the rest of the Ambrosians watch on as if they were engrossed in a hypnotizing soap opera, munching contentedly on their piping hot pizza. Kevin and Whitney are hysterical together as the smitten lovebirds. And Pizza Guy soon inspires them all as Ambrosia’s first Olympic hopeful when he shares his dream of being the next Greg Louganis in what is the centerpiece of the show. But forging a new nation is not all pizza and diving and growing corn, and it is rarely easy to turn big dreams into realities.

Rob Hopper
San Diego Playbill