Review: LOVE BOMB at CATASTROPHIC THEATRE – An artsy love letter to Melanie and mass hysteria

Brian Jucha’s most recent work, entitled LOVE BOMB, opened this weekend at the MATCH facility and runs through December 7th. I had never seen one of Jucha’s shows before, and the person who went with me on opening night leaned over and asked me over a drink post-show, “How in the hell are you going to describe THAT?” It is unlike anything you have ever seen unless you have experience with Brian and his collaborations with Catastrophic Theatre. And yes, the show is more experiential than narrative, and quite a bit of it is absurdist in nature, but what surprised me most is how much of it I did understand and related to. Whatever happens in LOVE BOMB feels like real human emotion, and the Melanie songs featured in the piece are executed with a transcendent Brechtian brilliance. And I will try not to spoil any of the fun of discovery for you because, well… the television said that’s the right thing to do. I would suggest skipping my review and any of my other compatriots in criticism until after you view this work of the Catastrophic Theatre. Just take my word for it; it is moving and fun. Buy your tickets right now through the link below. The leftover emotions you will take with you home are worth gambling on. No other show is as pretty as LOVE BOMB. Now you better watch this and try to understand what’s going on as Brian Jucha and company hand you a brand new key.

For those of you returning or still here, I will try to prepare you for the explosion that is LOVE BOMB. Brian Jucha borrows words from other sources – poets, films, television shows, and pop hits. The text is put in a blender to produce something unique. He combines movement, physical comedy, songs, sleight of hand, shuffling of feet, and dance to create something unique from borrowed parts. Once, someone told me, “Any art from now on is purely collage because everything has been done before. Every word has been spoken, and every note has been sung.” So this is high art, and I dare you to parse that any way you want. It is highly artistic in that it challenges you mentally and bound to give you the munchies or make you feel like you have smoked something you purchased around the corner from the theater. The text Brian Jucha chooses is surprisingly dark and tinted with inserted serial killer references throughout. Yet, each Melanie song is a frank and simple meditation on love and the desire for it. So, you already have a push-pull setup from the jump.

Seven actors assume the roles of people trapped in a dance hall, who are the ghosts of “taxi dancers” or folks customers would pay to dance with. The patrons are mannequins dressed up for the occasion and on rollers that make for pliable partners when needed. The conversations these assembled spirits have centered on fear of mass hysteria, and that is where I suddenly meditated on what this has to do with love. One by one, they sing a Melanie Anne Safka Scherkeryk (aka Melanie, or that girl who sings “Brand New Key” about roller skates) song that breaks the spell and gives us three or four minutes of traditional musical structure. They feel like the inside is coming out, giving the Catastrophic company a chance to sing and act like they were suddenly in a Sondheim show at the Hobby Center. So the cast is stretched to do several things within an hour and a half, and it is a credit to the company that they do this all so convincingly. They can be absurd, and they can be sublime.

All seven members of the cast are wonderfully alive and fully engaged. Truly, this is an ensemble, and everyone is firing at the same high level. Amy Bruce gets the most heart-wrenching song to deliver in the climax with “Take Me Home.” Those lyrics seem to sum up the brilliance of Melanie and, at the same time, convey the beauty of Brian Jucha’s work. Amy does this immaculately. Tamarie Cooper goes full Brecht without a bra! She delivers a maniacal “The Champagne Song” and jiggles enough at some points that I was convinced the show should be called LOVE BOOB. She is all in here and commits to every second, and it’s impressive. Karina Pal Montano-Bowers turns the “Is she as pretty as me, huh?” refrain of “Any Guy” into a master class in acting. She’s also sexy and smoky throughout. Noel Bowers shuffles through his number with a wry sense of energy and theatrical skill. He’s hilariously convincing in his parts. Bryan Kaplun is (as always) a force of nature onstage. If anybody could pull off a suave taxi dancer like Rudolph Valentino, it’s him. Yet his portrayal of Billy’s wildly insecure character reveals the earth that moves beneath his steady, sultry veneer. Kyle Sturdivant serves us his own special cocktail of nitrous oxides that seems to follow him whenever he appears. He is a master of comedy and the absurd, and his “Nickel Song” is worth a thousand-dollar bill. But if I had to pick one to crown Miss Love Bomb, it would be Miika Stewart. She is an incredible singer, and there was something so gorgeously vulnerable about her as she slinked along. She has an effortless charm and has created a true character out of the collage she was given. And her re-interpretation of “Leftover Emotion” was revelatory.

Technically, the standards are held high as well. Roma Flowers creates a lighting-scape that expands and contracts dramatically throughout, and her video design runs counterpoint to the actors’ emotions (or do they?). Miriam Daly’s musical direction turns Melanie’s songs into theatrical masterpieces. The arrangements are dazzling, and as a fan of the singer, I appreciated the care she took. Juan Sarcay’s costumes are dance hall duds that pull off the charm and sexiness as much as the actors give it. Brian Jucha’s direction and choreography are inventive and always follow the craft’s best practices. Whenever you think he is going in One Direction, he shifts on you, keeping LOVE BOMB a wild ride that is never predictable. You really leave the theater desperately wanting to get inside his head but also scared of what that might reveal.

LOVE BOMB is a masterpiece of the absurd, but at the same time, it’s a viable Melanie jukebox musical that could command any stage in town. Yet I doubt that any company other than the Catastrophic Theatre will ever dare to do so because it asks much of its audience. It asks you to decide what is happening; it demands you to declare a meaning to its madness. It is a symphonic soundtrack to your personal fever dream that simultaneously feels strange and oddly familiar. The beauty is that I can’t tell you what to feel about LOVE BOMB because, more importantly, it is what it feels about you. But don’t miss this one because it is one of the rare pieces of theater that feels like art.

LOVE BOMB runs at the MATCH complex through Saturday, December 7th. All tickets are pay-what-you-can, and there are “Free Beer Fridays.” If you dare, this is the perfect Thanksgiving counter-programming to all the holiday dreck out there. On Black Friday, why not bring the whole family to this one? There is plenty of parking and restaurants and bars within walking distance. And that weird aunt of yours will love this more than the Macy’s parade.