Timely issues that face youngsters today infuse Riddle of the Trilobites, a new musical aimed “for everyone 6 and up” at The New Victory Theater.
The musical’s themes include the effect of global warming, the onset of puberty, absentee parents, the refugee crisis, and the eventual extinction of civilization.
Makes you want to run out and grab a ticket, right?
Actually, this well-meaning 80-minute musical is not as grim as its messages may suggest. A lively production staged by Lee Sunday Evans makes everything go down easily enough.
Geo Decas O’Donnell and Jordan Seavey, who wrote the book and lyrics, set these matters some 500 million years ago when trilobites ruled the ocean floor as one of the most successful early animals on the Earth. If you missed that day in biology class, trilobites are prehistoric arthropods that functioned within a social order and left behind vast fossil fields.
The trilobites are personified in this musical as bright young teens and their worrisome elders. Wearing jumpsuits, a fine company of six actors artfully manipulate hand-held puppets in their roles as the youngsters, or they otherwise are swaddled in oversized costumes that resemble passementerie mushrooms as the grown-ups.
Amanda Villalobos designed and fabricated the delightful puppets. Deb O designed the mad get-ups for the elders as well as simple, shimmering environs for the underwater storyline that goes like this:
Aphra, a plucky girl protagonist, experiences her first molting period only to discover markings on her new shell that signify she may be the one to solve the ancient tribal riddle: “How the Trilobites cannot live … but will not die.”
As the adults fret over rising water temperatures and the invasion of alternate life forms, Aphra and several buddies swim away from their home reef on a mission to figure out the mystery. And eventually they do.
Along their quest, a dozen forthright songs often tell the audience, among many other worthy messages, that everything changes and change is our friend.
Nicholas Williams wrote the show’s music and some lyrics as well as its arrangements and orchestrations for a three-musician band. His easygoing music often possesses a rippling, fluent sort of quality that helps to propel the earnest and somewhat laborious script. Probably the show’s biggest laugh is when a grandma character exclaims, “What am I—chopped plankton?”
At times sludgy with too many good intentions, Riddle of the Trilobites is energized by the nifty visuals and bright performances cultivated by director Lee Sunday Evans, who is credited as a co-creator of the musical.
A dynamic Sifiso Mabena warmly depicts Aphra as a heroine who steadily grows in confidence. Phillip Taratula looks downright adorable as a shy little fish called Hai whose name lends some recurring laughs to the story. Sophia Aranda raises some giggles as a gossip girl character with five eyes. Funniest of all is Richard Saudek, who invests a fraidy-cat friend with sharp body language and a snarky edge.
The way these actors adeptly meld their characterizations into the puppets is the nicest seen this side of Avenue Q.
