Every performance by “Awesome” is a gentleman’s agreement between
musical theater and rock show. Their theater shows don’t have plots so
much as moods, and tend toward brooding impressionism: Delaware,
performed in a bar, was about mermaids, waffles, and loss. noSIGNAL,
performed at On the Boards, was an extended metaphor about bees,
drones, and day jobs. Their bar shows are lighter, more mercurial and
intimate—all seven band members are deeply funny, and watching
them surprise each other is half the fun.
The gentlemen’s agreement in the “Awesome” Cycle, in ACT’s
downstairs cabaret room, is more ambiguous than usual. Four different
shows performed over four weekends, the Cycle is throw-it-at-the-wall
exercise, mixing old material with new. It feels like it could go off
the rails at any moment (and it occasionally does). Last weekend’s show
was a riff on the marriage-by-abduction frontier musical Seven Brides
for Seven Brothers. (Future shows will be about astrophysics, the
results of the presidential election, and “the death of indie rock”
with a coffin made of dental X-rays.) The septet dressed in plaid and
suspenders, sang show tunes, used axes and stumps for percussion,
discussed the plot (“Uh, that sounds like rape”), and didn’t try to
replicate the big dance sequence, but synchronized one of their old
songs to the film choreography projected on a screen behind them.
Like many “Awesome” projects, Seven Brides teetered on the edge of
preciousness without actually falling over. “Awesome” is always
watching itself, but always with a smirk. In one bit, the band summoned
Allison Narver from the audience to give them some director’s notes
(she’s directing a big-budget production of Seven Brides for Seven
Brothers at the 5th Avenue next month). She suggested improv exercises.
“I love improv,” drummer Kirk Anderson replied. “I don’t love watching
it, but I love doing it!” That empathy for (and awareness of) the
audience is the root appeal of “Awesome.” And it’s all too rare in
theater. 
