K: Taking pleasure in the ridiculous is key to making this show work, and Zach Ulmer was clearly having a great time. The audience couldn’t help but follow suit!

M: Absolutely. I’d agree that Ulmer was the highlight of the show’s comedy, including some fun ad-libbed asides – and he has a strong singing voice, to boot.

M: No one's here for the story, are they?

K: No, we’re in it for the escapism! And fortunately, that’s exactly what this show is all about.

M: Corey McKinney inhabited the lead role very effectively throughout, but was especially convincing in portraying Elvis’ halting yet ever-more-confident steps developing his breakthrough sound and achieving popularity.

K: I agree! McKinney did a great job of showing the progression of Elvis’ style.

Kitty: Conceptually, this musical is certainly a challenge. Presenting what is essentially the same material over and over again, but in a way that’s going to be interesting to the audience, is inherently difficult.

Mischa: There are also too many layers of philosophical or ideological meaning added to an essentially frivolous story, as though a light entertainment were trying to turn into Camus’ Myth of Sisyphus.

K: I really loved when the British and German soldiers came together to pose for a photograph. A camera bulb flashed, flooding the group in bright light for just a split second, capturing the occasion in time. It was a simple yet powerful effect.

M: There’s another great lighting effect that comes in to enhance “Silent Night” … but I shouldn’t give it away.

Kitty: I love this musical. The 1982 movie adaptation was a favorite of mine growing up. But I had forgotten that this show takes place at Christmas! So it’s a nice little holiday treat, as well.

Mischa: True, though you'll most likely leave the theater humming “Tomorrow” or “Hard Knock Life,” not “A New Deal for Christmas.”

M: It’s the cast members, in character, telling you to put your cell phones away and all that, which perfectly sets the tone for all the fourth-wall-breaking in Life Sucks.

K: So much fourth-wall breaking. Does the fourth wall even exist here?

K: I immediately thought that the tapes, as a plot device, were inspired by The Handmaid’s Tale. In that book, the heroine’s story is recorded on a series of cassette tapes. But you found a parallel in a different dystopian novel.

M: It reminded me of the mysterious films in Philip K. Dick’s novel The Man in the High Castle. But audience members will just have to see for themselves what the tapes are, and what they mean.

Kitty: This show definitely made an impact because we’ve both been singing the songs since Friday night.

Mischa: Curse you, Andrew Lloyd Webber!

Kitty: I adored this production – which honestly surprised me, because I’ve seen this musical performed elsewhere and … didn’t love it.

Mischa: I’ve never seen this show before, but also really enjoyed it. Okay, I’ll admit, the storyline is not amazing. But the execution was superb.

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