| “Safety Not Guaranteed” at BAM | |
| Last Edit: wizrdofoz27 10:21 am EDT 10/03/24 | |
| Posted by: wizrdofoz27 10:12 am EDT 10/03/24 | |
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| Saw this in the last week at BAM (the space on Fulton, not the big one). I would say I went in with low expectations; I recall streaming the movie years ago but I don’t remember liking the movie that much. So I was delighted to find that the writers of this musical have dialed up the best elements of this story and crafted a completely charming 100-minute musical. I’ve tried to avoid major spoilers below while discussing some of the writing and character development. Taylor Trensch is particularly terrific as a would-be time traveler who has hardened himself against a world filled with, as he calls them, “jankholes.” The musical doesn’t give much more character development than what I remember from the movie. Only two of the characters here are given much of a specific story, with the other four left to sketch in a pair of romantic journeys that usually feels underdeveloped (there’s a brief tease of a makeover montage moment that frustrated me- neither demure, nor mindful, nor popular). Other times this blank slate is beautifully, painfully drawn like in the song “Are You Good? I’m Good”. Other songs could be excised with little loss. “One Man Wrecking Machine” is attractively staged but stops the momentum and feels like it was written for a nonexistent Act 1 Finale. Even though I think the story here could be strengthened through tightening it by 10-15 minutes, I would also love if some of the revelations that come later were further developed. Like, how exactly does Kenneth think his life in this town will change if he can go back in time? Trensch’s character here brings to mind another small-town Kenneth who struggles to cope: the narrator of last season’s “Primary Trust” by Eboni Booth. I wouldn’t rush to see “Safety Not Guaranteed” the way I would to revisit Booth’s quietly captivating meditation on friendship, death, and life, but I was enthralled by the story in this musical and I can’t wait to try the movie again. |
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