(LONG BRANCH, NJ) -- Can a karoake machine really change your life? It can in Minnesota where Don t Hug Me , the first collaboration between Shotgun Productions and the New Jersey Repertory Company takes place. The play is a wonderfully fun musical comedy that is a perfect show for the Christmas season!
The play takes place at The Bunyan, a little bar near Ely, Minnesota on the coldest day of the year. Fittingly, the play s opening night took place on our coldest day of the year as well. So, the audience was very much ready for the journey to Minnesota.
Making the journey easier was an incredibly elaborate set which extended very close to the audience seats - the experience made you feel like you truly were in the bar instead of NJ Rep s studio theater.
The play features the husband and wife team of Clara (Darcie Sicilano) and Gunner (John Little) along with Kanute (Clark Carmichael) and his financee Bernice (Cortnie Loren). Gunner wants to sell the bar and move to Florida while Bernice is wondering if she s really interested in marrying Kanute - a guy that s not the sharpest tool in the shed but someone who s inherited five stores and is financially stable.
And then in walks Aarvid (Michale Nathanson) a karoake dealer with a machine designed to bring in more customers to the bar and more romance into people s lives. Aarvid and Bernice have an instant attraction but with her financee always around, they do everything in their power to stop their feelings from taking over.
Under no circumstances will I keep that thing in this bar, says Gunner.
His wife replies, Gunner, would you like my mother to move in with us?
And with that question, the test drive of the karoake machine begins and all hell breaks loose in the lives of everyone in the bar!
The karoake machine provides a nice way of sliding into the musical numbers without totally suspending reality as in most musicals.
Most of the songs were written by the legendary folk artist Sven Yorgenson. The lyrics are generally cartoonish and quite funny and the music shows the various phases of the artist during his career - phases that include Barry Manilow, Madonna, Garth Brooks, Elvis Presley, Donnie Marie, Lawrence Welk and John Denver among others. Sven, you see, is a truly talented artist!
I ll tell you what, I ll do, said Aarvid upon realizing that Gunner still wasn t into keeping the machine. If this doesn t double your business in 3 months, I ll buy it back from you.
If you came here once a week you d double their business!
said Kanute.
The machine shows a side of Bernice that nobody knew existed when she first gives it a go with the hilarious I Wanna Go to the Mall of America . Aarvid steers her into considering a singing career causing even more friction between her and Kanute.
Meanwhile, Gunner isn t very pleased with Aarvid either. He hates the machine - largely because he despises Sven Yorgenson - and hates his wife nagging him to open up. When he finally does open up, it s with an odd choice for a love song - Upside Down In My Pickup Truck.
A show of affection (or lack thereof) that starts Clara into thinking that maybe she should leave him.
Huge breasts, guys pretending to be gay, wacky musical numbers, and acts of espionage bring the play to it s conclusion!
All in all, there are fine performances throughout with Michael Nathanson standing out in his role as the karoake salesman.
Don t Hug Me is a very enjoyable musical that doesn t deal with Christmas but it s wintery theme and light-hearted spirit fits in well with the season. Catch it at NJ Rep in Long Branch now through December 31st.
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