In Corpo Theater Review.

"In Corpo" at the old Beckett Theatre, now called Theatre Four is a musical that would have been better if it was a play instead. Writers Ben Beckley and Nate Weida try to capture the spirit of Bradbury, Kafka, Orwell and even Gogol. When I read the bio of this musical I thought it sounded interesting. They don't do shows like this on either Broadway nor off Broadway. The reason I think that they do not is because it is difficult to produce shows like this. For one, it is difficult to keep the audiences attention because you need to pay attention to the words being said. The other is that if it's not done well, it will have very little appeal to the general audience.

"In Corpo" basic premise is that the world has been mostly destroyed and the people in "In Corpo" are pretty much the only survivors. It is implied that the Corpo's perhaps caused this and the remaining people will acquiesce to the wishes of the leaders or pay the consequences. Worked to death, the employees are never allowed to question authority or the whole crew gets punished. Rules are made under tremendous bureaucracy; frustrated at times, the workers are left high and dry about their decision making.

About the best thing about "In Corpo" is the scenic design by Sasha Schwartz. The stage was very creative; different layers where actors went up and down and freely moved about. The costumes which were pretty basic but effective (Kate Fry). The lighting design by Mary Ellen Stebbins supported the show as a back beat nicely.

The acting ranged from good to really bad. Where Jessica Frey, Devon Meddock, Ben Caplan, Zoe Siegel were very good in their roles... RJ Christian was unable to carry the lead role. Not only was he ineffective as an actor, he couldn't sing well; this dragged the show down like an anchor.

At times "In Corpo" was interesting; but for the most part, the show was confusing, dull and lacked really good direction (Meredith Lucio). The writing tried to carry too much within the two hours. It was never made clear where the writing was going here. We grasped why the people were in this building even though as an audience we had to interpret why... it was never spelled out for us. In fact, a lot of the show you had to piece it together for yourself.

Like in a Bradbury, the actors take tablets instead of eating food. Coffee and whiskey are also served ala tablet. Employees get time to dance and chant that "we are happy". Much like a cult the workers must unite or be bannished to the outside world. Like Tittorelli (Ben Beckley), if you question things, you get removed from your position and all power is taken away.

I think if this show went the play direction it may have worked better. Some of the songs just aren't good, nor do they support the show. "Coffee Tablet", "Employees...", "Another Memo", "Mortality Module" are a few of the weak songs. At times the songs never made any sense as to where the writers wanted this musical to go. The chorography by Lisa Nevada was as questionable in some of the numbers as the songs written. The movements for the most part made no sense. It was as if the dance numbers were just thrown together willy nilly.

To say this show needs some major rework is an under statement. For starters, the acting is too inconsistent, the singing and dancing also runs the gambet and the writing for the most part is weak.

The Beckett Theater, off Broadway, Obie Awards, Theater Row, In Corpo.