The Pennington Post

Go home for the holidays with Harry Chapin's 'Lies and Legends' at Off-Broadstreet Theatre

A review by LOIS MARIE HARROD

Like Under Milkwood, this musical review of Chapin ballads, pulls out the fading photo albums.
"And what ever happened to Old John Joseph?"
Like "Spoon River Anthology," it retells the old fictions and myths that inform our lives.
"We need not grieve for this man."
Like "Winesburg, Ohio," it makes us profoundly aware of our longing and our diminishing dreams.
"I know I'm going nowhere
And anywhere is a better place to be."
For "Lies and Legends" creates that village of desire we never really leave, that little town of yearning that we visit each time we go home.
Chapin's narrative songs reminds people of that village with the disappointed and defeated we know and become: Old John Joseph who died, waiting for his Corey to return ("Corey's Coming"); big Salt the Sailor who passionately loves his untamed shrew Pepper ("Salt & Pepper"); Mr. Tanner the cleaner who loves to sing, but whose "range lacks the color necessary" ("Mr. Tanner"); the young man who prophesied The Rock would fall on the town and who slips under it to prevent the disaster, thus sacrificing his life without the townsfolk knowing ("The Rock"); and, of course, those former lovers Harry and Sue, who gave up each other for dreams that never materialized ("Taxi").
In summary, the characters sound trite, but as those who know Chapin's music are aware, Chapin's ballads are full of fresh phrases and beautiful melodies. He answers the question he poses in "A Better Place to Be" ("What variations can you bring to the shopworn melody?") with his songs, his infinite variations.
Moreover, as Robert Thick's beautifully chosen cast embodies one of Chapin's town members after another, the music takes on its innate operatic quality. Longing and sadness inform one song after another, and the music needs voices of great range and color.
All four singers/actors are magnificent: each beautifully conveys emotion in voice and body.
Harris Goodman of Hopewell, who sang Chapin when Thick first did this show 15 years ago, is shy and solicitous as the western farmer who understands the grief of his "Mail Order Annie" and depressed as the child who is told to color all flowers red ("Flowers Are Red").
Tom Orr of Philadelphia is particularly good as the truck driver who smashes 30,000 pounds of bananas on Scranton streets, but certainly poignant too as the father who never had time for his son in "Cat's in the Cradle."
Skillman resident Jennifer East has expressive eyes and body that work their magic whether she is singing the reluctant lover in "Get on with It" or standing silent as the shy city woman in "Mail Order Annie."
Finally, Yardley's Pamela Linkin, who sings the most operatic of the Chapin songs, is simply superb in "Old College Avenue" and "Dogtown." Her voice conveys that unrequited longing that is at the center of all operatic song.
Robert Thick chose and directed his cast well, and the staging is creative and unpretentious. A stool, for example, creates a bar, in "A Better Place to Be" and a desk in "Flowers Are Red." The arrangement of the songs, too, in "Lies and Legends" moves us from guffaws to tears, from smiles to memories.
Verdict: "Lies and Legends" is certainly one way home for the holidays. It revisits what we once wanted and probably still do. It reexamines our old loves and dreams, our own lies and legends. Like all good art, "Lies and Legends" paints the picture.