BoHo Theatre Company presents 110 IN THE SHADE Review

What do you do when you have just about given up hope and there is nowhere else to turn?

Like any old-timey musical, 110 in the Shade has a love story at its center and some catchy music that pops up along the way. However, at its center is a question about hope, and while elements of the musical may feel outdated, that is a question that could very much apply to any time in history, even today. BoHo Theatre’s production asks the audience to sit back and consider their own lives, and what they would do if they found themselves with the same question as those in the story:

What do you do when you have just about given up hope and there is nowhere else to turn?

BoHo Theatre presents 110 in the Shade

With book by N. Richard Nash, music by Harvey Schmidt, and lyrics by Tom Jones, 110 in the Shade is based on Nash’s 1954 play The Rainmaker. Directed by Peter Marston Sullivan, the story follows Lizzie Curry (Neala Barron, with powerhouse vocals), a young woman who is ready to give up hope in finding love and happiness. Her family – her father, H.C. (Peter Robel) and two brothers, Noah (Billy Dawson) and Jimmy (Christopher Ratliff), will do anything to both find Lizzie a husband and save their farm that is ready to go bankrupt due to the drought.

Just when all feels lost, a charming stranger by the name of Starbuck (Tommy Thurston) comes into town with the promise that he can bring rain for the price of $100. With no other options, H.C. hands the last of his farm’s money over to the man, and much as one might expect, the family learns more from the choice than they ever expected. 110 in the Shade is a story about love, trickery, and what a little hope for a miracle can do.

The Relationship with the Audience

At the heart of the musical is devastating story about a woman who has accepted her fate as a spinster due to the belief that she is “plain.” Theater Wit’s space is intimate and we are drawn right into the story because of the close proximity.

We feel for Lizzie as the odds continue to stack against her, particularly in the number Old Maid. Immediately before this song, Noah loses all his patience, and begs their father to be honest about Lizzie’s lack of prospects for marriage, calling her an “old maid”. As the rest of the family stares at him in horror of what he has said, we are right there, feeling the tension. When Lizzie is left alone on stage to sing Old Maid, a stunning solo from Barron, we are heartbroken. We had seen Barron’s Lizzie remain stoic and strong, but when she is finally left alone to feel the weight of her emotions, she releases, and tears apart the stage in the process. The moment is powerful, and the intimacy of the small performance space helps push the moment even more.

Moments of Comedy

The comedy is up close and powerful too, and especially with the ways in which the family dynamic is portrayed. When H.C. hears that Lizzie will be arriving at their farm in minutes, the three men scramble to clean their barn with great speed as they fantasize about how much easier things will be once a woman is back in the home. Later, when H.C., Noah, and Jimmy try to convince File (Denzel Tsopnang), the town’s sheriff and a divorcee, to join them for a picnic so they could set him and Lizzie up on the path for marriage, they sing Polker Polka, a jaunty tune in which the family throws out a series of ideas for why File should join them – including playing an exciting game of poker. All this is just to avoid sharing the truth of their hopes for a setup. The song is hysterical, playing off the awkwardness of the moment. Again, we are close to the action and it means we especially feel that desperation and drive for each idea to top the last. Oh to help Lizzie find a man!

A Story about Trickery

As much as 110 in the Shade is a story about hope and love, it is also one of trickery. In this writer’s view Thurston does an excellent job bringing that to life through The Rain Song – which not only demonstrates his physical acting abilities, but also his top-notch vocal talents. Starbuck has to win over the crowd in order to convince them to hand over the funds for him to “bring rain”. and Sullivan and Choreographer Aubrey Adams help his cause with The upbeat choreography by Aubrey Adams begins with Thurston and spreads out to the rest of the ensemble. It is easy to see his influence spread through the movement, and by the end, we too are tapping our feet to the beat.