I’d never been to the Wells Theatre before, believe it or not. That place is gorgeous. All classical and antique… my mom would go nuts. The orchestra and mezzanine were open, but the top balcony was being used for lighting instruments, and probably sound as well. Which is absolutely fine in my opinion, since those kind of heights make me dizzy and I tend to fall over a lot.

This is Contac't's regional debut, and quite an undertaking for Virginia Stage Company. Originally directed and choreographed by the multi-award-winning Susan Stroman, it's a new kind of musical. One without much actual singing at all. When it was nominated for Best Musical in the 2000 Tony Awards, there was a bit of debate whether it qualified as a musical at all. But the dissenters were shouted down, and the show when on to win that and several other awards that year, including Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Choreography.

Contact is broken up into three parts, each a scene and story all by themselves. I didn’t catch any theme among the three, except maybe that of finding and keeping love. Part One involved only three dancers, each of whom seemed like they were actors until they did something dancey. It was great, actually. Dancers who act well and believably can be a rarity. I’m not a dancer, of course, so I’m certainly not qualified to critique their dancing. All I can say is that it all looked impressive to me.

Part Two was my favorite. It involved an adorably cute and energetic woman who fantasized about ways to get rid of her overbearing and (probably) abusive husband. Tina Moya was just enchanting in this role. The audience was on her side within about two seconds. They even cheered when she finally… well, I don’t want to give the plot away before you see it. Only a couple of minor things were off in this section. During the dream sequences, the ensemble was supposed to be going about their business, not noticing the dreaming girl dancing around them. One or two of the dancers, however, continually looked straight at her, and even reacted to her a couple of times. This briefly shattered the illusion for me, but I quickly got over it and returned to dreamland. Another unbelievable moment happened when everyone onstage was supposed to be watching and reacting to something that was happening off stage. (Again, I’m not going to ruin the plot for you.) The reactions were just not convincing. It seemed like that moment was expected by the dancers, so they either didn’t react much at all, or anticipated too much, and reacted too early. A fairly pivotal moment, I hope it gets cleaned up a bit before they open for full-paying audiences.

The final section involved almost the entire company and had the infamous ‘Girl in the Yellow Dress’ character which was used in all the Broadway publicity shots. This section was much darker than the other two, dealing with a disheartened man who was contemplating suicide until he sees the girl of his dreams dancing in a yellow dress. Although advised by a jovial bartender whose personality kind of reminded me of the baboon in Lion King, it takes a while for the man to build up the courage to approach the dancer. About half of this story takes place in a swing dance bar, and the music was mostly fun and popular oldies or ‘80s songs. And we all know that the ‘80s was the best decade for dance music. Reminded me that I haven’t been out swing dancing in a long, long time.

This last section had some technical difficulties that weren’t present in the first act. The most distracting was the technician I saw waiting in the wings to move a set piece. A couple of the set pieces were also easily visible, as was the occasional backstage light. I could excuse this if I had been sitting to the extreme right or left, but I was in the balcony, which is far enough back that this shouldn’t have been something I could have seen. I wanted to yell down to the technician the First Rule of Theatre. “If you can see them, they can see you.” Get behind the curtain, honey. There were a couple of other sightline problems as well, such as a man who’d just been knocked out could be seen crawling off stage behind a set piece. Yellow Dress could be seen through the opaque door prepping for her dramatic entrance. Things like that. But again, this was a pre-opening show, so most likely all of those problems will get solved.

The sound, which had been really excellent until then, caused the bartender’s voice to be strangely muffled, unlike the clear sound we got from that actor in Part Two. All in all, this last section was technically messier than the rest of the show, but it also had the most elements to deal with. Most of those problems can be cleaned up throughout the run.

I saw in the program that the Yellow Dress had a sponsor. I knew shows could have sponsors, but it never occurred to me before that a single role could. Kind of neat, actually. I guess the thinking is with that strenuous of a role, it’s a big enough thing to support a sponsor. Sheri Griffith danced this challenging role with ease it seemed. She hardly looked out of breath when she finished her choreography. Griffith dances with such confidence that it seems easy, and made me wish I could lose about forty pounds so I could fit into that dress. I only wish that her confidence extended to the short acting scene she did at the end of the piece. She seemed not quite comfortable without her incredible dancing talent to lean on, and her final character didn’t quite match the anger and exasperation needed in the role. It’s hard to transition from dance, where most things are expressed in movement and facial expression, to straight acting, where the tone of your voice had to express just as much. Of course, she wasn’t terrible or anything, just not as strong as in her dancing role.

Along the same lines, some members of the ensemble were more comfortable with speaking than others were. Some parts called for the cast to call out, or say random things to the crazy guy stumbling around them. Only a few of them spoke out, while most tended (as dancers do) to let their body motions speak for them. It was a trifle inconsistent, but not terribly distracting.

I definitely enjoyed the evening, although I probably won’t go see a production of Contact again. It’s just not my cup of tea. However, it makes for wonderful variety among the regular plays and musicals we’re used to seeing in this area. I recommend seeing it, and I also recommend the mezzanine as the best seats in the house. You’re still close enough to see facial expressions, and you’re high enough to get all of the action. Contact is playing at the Wells Theatre, now until April 23rd. See our Events Calendar for the specifics regarding dates, prices, and times.