Coachella Valley Repertory’s final production of the season has opened—and it’s Ernest Shackleton Loves Me, a musical!
As you enter the theater, a storm is in progress, with lightning flashing and thunder rolling convincingly outside the windows of the onstage apartment (designed by Jimmy Cuomo). There’s a giant screen at the back of the apartment, with windows high overhead, and a couple of ladders (which get ignored for most of the show).
Kat (played by Sarah Manton), who lives in the apartment, is a new mother, and the baby frequently cries—whether for attention or out of hunger, we are never too sure. She toils as a creator of music for video games. She’s sleep-deprived and full of anxiety about her work for an uncaring online company; at this point, she has gone without sleep for many hours—36, to be exact. The point is made that after going this length of time without sleep, hallucinations can occur, which sets us up for what happens next.
Kat explains her situation through the words of playwright Joe DiPietro and the music of Brendan Milburn, with lyrics by Valerie Vigoda and additional music by Ryan O’Connell. The music is all ultra-modern; although it’s enjoyable, and you will understand it completely, you won’t leave the theater with a single note ringing in your memory. (After CVRep’s production of Guys and Dolls, every song replayed in my head for weeks afterward.)
Kat tells us that her husband has run off on tour with a tribute band, leaving her alone with the baby and her work struggles and being broke all the time. Kat plays an electric violin, and she shows us how she creates her songs electronically—with drums and keyboards and sound effects and echoes and repeats, all of which she has mastered. It is a most interesting demonstration of how music can be made today—and of how a full-sounding demo, with a full band and even backup singers, can be created by just one musician.
The screen at the back comes alive with her computer calls, showing in Zoom-style, for example, the calls from her errant on-tour husband. Now alone, she has applied to a dating service (shudder). And she receives a couple of prank phone calls, with the voices of different historical figures.
Ultimately, she is visited in-person by explorer Ernest Shackleton (played by Matt Miles), a real person (1874-1922) who led three expeditions to Antarctica for Great Britain. Kat is a modern youngster with a potty mouth, and the contrast between her choice of words and his are among the first things you notice about him. The giant screen lights up with photos from his exploration of the Antarctic, and movies of the restless sea and the actual coastlines.
Although Shackleton was handsome in real life, we can’t really see much of his face onstage, as he is both bearded and snow-covered. He and Kat certainly agree on one thing, and that is the importance of optimism: Kat relies on optimism to get her through her difficult life in Brooklyn, while Ernest, on his first voyage to the bottom of the world, has gotten his ship hopelessly stuck in the ice, and the lives of all his crew members depend on his leadership.
Shackleton persuades Kat to come to the Antarctic to help him. The fact that she can be a help is part of her decision to go—and that stems from Shackleton’s own love of music. He chose one of his crew members to come on the voyage because the sailor played the banjo—which, in real life, became a hugely important part of their survival, playing for the stranded crew’s many singalongs.
Director Craig Wells and music director Stephen Hulsey have worked hard with Manton and Miles. (Miles plays various roles, including both Shackleton and Kat’s pathetic husband, Bruce; he is so successfully different in those two roles that some audience members might wonder why poor Bruce didn’t get a curtain call.) This is not an easy show—no two-person show is easy—and difficult singing is required from both actors. Their amazing range is fully celebrated—and they actually played their own instruments live!
Ernest Shackleton Loves Me contains some comedy and light touches beyond the desperate attempts to conquer, or even survive, Antarctica. It is most unusual and enjoyable. Even if you won’t remember the songs, you will never forget these characters—or this play.
Ernest Shackleton Loves Me will be performed at 7 p.m., Wednesday through Saturday; and 2 p.m., Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday, through Sunday, May 10, at the CVRep Playhouse, at 68510 E. Palm Canyon Drive, in Cathedral City. Tickets are $95, or $105 for opening night, Thursday, April 23. For tickets or more information, call 760-296-2966, or visit www.cvrep.org.
