LARGER THAN LIFE: THE MUSICAL book and lyrics by S.G. Lee, music by Vanessa LeBourdais (Ghost Light Projects). At Factory Studio (125 Bathurst). In rep with Mamma’s Boy to June 12. $15-$37.50. 416-504-9971. See listing. Rating: NNN
LARGER THAN LIFE: THE MUSICAL book and lyrics by S.G. Lee, music by Vanessa LeBourdais (Ghost Light Projects). At Factory Studio (125 Bathurst). In rep with Mamma’s Boy to June 12. $15-$37.50. 416-504-9971. See listing.
Larger Than Life is a cute, heart-warming musical about five women who bond while volunteering at a church rummage sale.
It’s a lot like The Breakfast Club reimagined to focus on 30-something white women. The characters start off as strangers and slowly reveal their diverse situations through song. There’s Ange (Sarah Haley Matte), a conservative business executive, Pat (Kris Skjellerup), a cellphone-toting, overworked housewife, Violet (Louisa O’Keane), a once-aspiring singer and environmentalist, Charley (Allie Price), a butch lesbian with a stepson, and Marnie (Renée Strasfeld), a dog-obsessed perpetual single.
After some social chafing at the outset, the five realize that each has valuable advice for the others. Sure, they’re middle-class women fretting over middle-class problems like sacrificed dreams, time management, husbands and dating, but composer Vanessa LeBourdais’s doo-wop-inspired songs (accompanied by Andrée-Ann Deschenes on piano) are funny, convey these anxieties convincingly and are actually pretty catchy.
S.G. Lee’s script provides intriguing developments for each character, including an unexpectedly touching exchange between Charley and Marnie. The tension that director Wes Berger engineers in this emotional scene is spot on and might require a tissue or two.
The ensemble’s singing is uneven, but it comes across as real and authentic – which is the point. And even if the ending is a little too rosy, the sisterhood formed by these suburban divas is still uplifting.JORDAN BIMM
