Marilag Angway
Senior Reviewer
While outside Friday seemed nothing but a gloomy and dreary day, inside the RPI Playhouse bustled with life. It was premiere night of Zanna Don’t, a high school musical fairy tale that would put a significant number of other high school musicals to shame. The characters sang, danced, and chased their love interests across the stage, creating a comedic and light-hearted atmosphere throughout the room.
Zanna Don’t revolves around a set of high school characters in an alternate dimension of the United States. I say alternate because in this particular world, the accepted “norm” is homosexuality, as radio DJ Tank (Chris Guyon ’10) first states, “Guys grab your guy and girls grab your girl.” To the community, heterosexuals are weird. Rather than football, chess is Heartsville High’s most popular sport, where the players are considered the hottest athletes around. And, of course, what fairy tale would be complete without magic?
The lights of the stage finally dim to reveal a sleeping Zanna (Noah Peyser ’10), who awakens and begins to plan his matchmaking mischief. Zanna finds it his job to “make sure no one suffers extra love”—that is, that everyone finds a soulmate. Throughout the musical, Zanna struggles not only to bring everyone together in happiness; he also attempts to keep himself from falling in love.
The other main characters of Zanna Don’t are varied and colorful. There’s Mike (Chris Brousseau ’09), the high school’s chess champion and sex symbol; Steve (Sam Notaro ’09), the new kid on the block and star quarterback; Kate (Liz Maus ’10), the straight-A student and captain of the “mechanical riding bull” club; fiery and aggressive Roberta (Sarah Politis), who just recently broke up with her newly-found girlfriend Carla (Alexandria Bethon); Candie (Bethon), the perky student council president; and Arvin (Michael Stark ’11), Candie’s timid personal servant. Together, the characters fall in and out of love with each other, almost reminiscent of “Dawson’s Creek” episodes where relationships are fickle and continuously changing.
One rather amusing scene involved Tank and his play-by-play of the football game, where Steve passes the ball to himself in order to score a touchdown. The manner in which it was delivered (It was more Steve following Tank’s words rather than Tank following the game) brought about laughter from the audience.
Politis delivered an outstanding performance in her portrayal of the dynamic and moody Roberta. Her husky and deep voice reverberated on the stage. When it came to her number “I Ain’t Got Time,” Politis sang the lines with much gusto. There was no way she could have been outshone in that scene.
Additionally, Politis’ interactions with Brousseau brought about hilarity and the audience found the characters’ melancholy believable (there were even a few “awwws” in the audience during the second act). Brousseau also made quite an impact, acting his part as the chess geek and singing “I Could Write Books” and “Don’t You Wish We Could Be in Love?” remarkably well.
When it comes to the harmony, Guyon and Peyser emerged as leaders of the bunch. Their last duet, “Sometime, Do You Think We Could Fall in Love?” was of heartfelt passion. Peyser pulled off a breathtaking Zanna. All the way from his speaking lines to his songs, Peyser managed to bring the fairy-like character to life.
Bethon needs to give herself a pat on the back for playing three different characters fabulously. As Carla, Bethon played an air-headed blonde with a flighty personality. When she came in as Loretta, the country twang in Bethon’s voice made her distinct from the rest of the cast. Singing “Fast” in that accent was impressive.
Candie was the highlight character. With the bossy, know-it-all attitude and the continuous need to get attention, Bethon successfully pulled off the role of the student council president. Bethon and Stark as a comedic duo was a perfect fit. Where Bethon showed her dominance in the relationship, Stark played the passive aggressive Arvin, who managed to lash out from time to time.
There were a few setbacks to the musical, however. While Notaro did deliver amusing lines, there were scenes where he stumbled through some of his words and had to subtly repeat them. In his duet with Brousseau, Notaro also came out a bit flat, which gave the catchy song “I Think We Got Love” a few sour notes.
Meanwhile, Maus’s facial expressions as Kate fell short. She was unable to convey emotions in her character well enough; it always seemed like her lines were continually spoken in a sarcastic and hurried manner. She did get better in the second act, and her singing was on key, with “Do You Know What It’s Like?” being her redeeming quality.
What about the costumes and the props? Well, the army could have never been as flashy as it was in Zanna Don’t. The prom outfits took the audience back to the classy ’70s, with the black and white giving an almost ethereal presence on stage. Candie’s prom dress? Fierce. And Zanna’s pink fuzzy slippers? Phenomenal.
Overall, the music was enjoyable, the play itself well-written, and the musical tone fit the mood of the story well. From the first and last words of “Who’s Got Extra Love?” to the grand musical number of “Straight to Heaven,” the RPI Players deserve a round of applause.
For those who missed Zanna Don’t this past weekend, there is still ample time to get a ticket for the coming week’s performances. Go watch the musical; I guarantee you’ll laugh more than once! The musical will be performed again on April 10–12 at 8 pm.
