Gone adrift: Lyric's ‘Macao' offers modest entertainment
"Adrift in Macao," currently on the boards at Lyric Stage, is a small musical in every way, including its pay-off for the audience. Of particular interest, however, is one performer new to the area - a rubber-faced, sweet-singing comedian named Austin Ku - and one number he delivers late in the line-up about certain of his talents.
Otherwise, this spoof of the clichés and stereotypes of the film noir hits of the 1940s-50s is filled with, well, clichés and stereotypes. Written by playwright Christopher Durang whose works include ''Miss Witherspoon,'' produced last season at the Lyric, as well as many other off-kilter comic plays, with a score by Peter Melnick, a grandson of Richard Rodgers (the other music-writing Rodgers progeny is Adam Guettel, composer of ''Light in the Piazza''), the musical depends on well-used jokes and wink-wink nods to the audience in kidding both movies and the conventions of the theater.
We've seen take-offs of the genre before, riddled with dark lighting, slinky dames, and dead-pan gumshoes, washed up on foreign shores to mingle with broadly drawn middle-eastern (''Casablanca'') or Asian (anything with Peter Lorre) characters. In this case, the plot - which hardly matters - concerns one nightclub singer, Lureena, who has landed in Macao with no possessions other than the silver lame dress she's wearing. That costume is also the subject of the opening number of the score that is servicable but generally unforgettable. Durang who wrote the lyrics had better stick to writing plays.
When Lureena calls for a rickshaw, a gentleman named Rick Shaw materializes - and that's about the level of the jokes to follow. Shaw also happens to own a nightclub and offers her a job.
And so it goes. Lureena meets Corinna, a small, feisty woman who in order of importance to the doings on stage is an opium addict and the rival singer at Shaw's nightclub. For no convincing reason, an American detective named Mitch shows up (the Humphrey Bogart role if you're making a film), looking for a Mr. McGuffin who's done him wrong. (For film buffs, that's Alfred Hitchcock's McGuffin). The seven-person cast is completed by the two-actor chorus line backing the songs, and by Tempura, the man-of-all-trades (including playing the piano, ala Hoagy Carmichael, or pretending to do so). Tempura ( Ku) explains his name, ''because I've been battered by life,'' and that's the last of the jokes I'll disclose.
Director and choreographer, Stephen Terrell seems to have encouraged the performers to over-act up the walls, which is funny at first and then gets repetitive. Aimee Doherty has a lovely voice and looks the part as Lureena. A reliable musical performer with a great sense of humor. Kathy St. George brings a welcome energy to Corrina but she looks so much like the girl next door that it's hard to believe she's a drug addict (if we need to believe it). Brendan McNab who stepped in as Rick Shaw a week ago to replace the injured Paul D. Farwell gets the Purple Heart for learning the role so quickly and belting out his amusing change-of-pace tune. Ariel Heller could use a pinch of charisma to heighten the outlines of the cardboard character, Mitch.
And that brings us to Austin Ku, whose credits include a long list of roles in San Francisco Bay area theaters. He is currently studying for a master's degree in musical theater at the Boston Conservatory, a lucky find for this show. As Tempura, Ku embodies the old vaudeville actor who made a career out of transforming into many characters on stage in front of the audience. Ku does so with glee and sharp-edged turns of motive, despite his ''chewing of the scenery'' - a stage term for too, too, too much mugging. His big number at the end is performed with breathtaking skill and is one marvelous moment of the show, along with his final appearance, which is knock-out.
As always, Jonathan Goldberg leads the small orchestra in expert fashion. This time the musicians are placed on a platform above the back wall of the stage. David Costa-Cabral's costume concoctions add to the effectiveness of the décor by J. Michael Griggs and lighting by Scott Pinkney. Valiant endeavors by the artistic staff and performers, to be sure, but too little to go on.
ADRIFT IN MACAO
Lyric Stage Company, 140 Clarendon St., Boston. Through Feb. 2. Tickets, $29-$54, atl 617-585-5678 or lyricstage.com.