Murder Ballad

Last weekend, Playhouse Square’s Lab Theatre became a safe space to experience a mild form of “immersive theatre” (a newish fad that includes the audience as part of the setting, say in a real Turkish bath or in a mental hospital--read all about it here in Playbill ).

So for the (too-short) weekend run of this Playhouse Square/Baldwin Wallace University collaboration Murder Ballad viewers sat at bar tables (or in seats around the U-shaped set) and watched while Tom, the sexy bartender and Sara, his lover, and Michael, her husband fell in and out and in again of love. Meanwhile a glamourous woman, “Narrator,” sings us a ballad, a true “Murder Ballad” as it turns out. (It would spoil the fun to say more about what happens.)

On a preview trip during rehearsals, I tried the table-sitting view and when Sara (Kyra Kennedy that night) slammed her cell phone down on the table, we all jumped. It was strange to watch someone up close who found us invisible. Kennedy’s control was impressive. The main downside to breaking the fourth wall and sitting on stage was all the neck twisting to see what was going on behind our backs.

For a return trip for the final performance, seats on the side provided a great view and, despite the novelty of being “in the show” with no effort on my part, this seemed to better way to hear and appreciate everything. (Now if the bar had been open as it is in some theatres and drinks had been served, that might have been a different story.)

It was a joy to watch the saucy narrator, sexy Sara, handsome Tom, and the kind-hearted Michael (Sara’s professor husband) create their own little world of steamy sex, domestic responsibility, and betrayal in a little over an hour. The double cast featured current BW students Kennedy and Keri Rene Fuller as Sara, Kyle Jean-Baptise and Zach Adkins as Tom, David Zody and Anthony Sagaria as Michael, and Sara Zoe Budnik and Nyla Watson as Narrator.

Creators Julia Jordan (book and lyrics) and Juliana Nash have conjured up infectiously pulsing rock songs to go with another sad (not really) tale of sex in the big city. The production, directed by Victoria Bussert, was choreographed by Gregory Daniels, with music direction by Andrew Cooper.

Alas, the show’s over now, but here’s to another collaboration next year and here’s to the Lab Theatre, an improvement on the now-vanished (and kinda ratty) 14th-Street Theatre where previous shows have been staged.