New York States of Mind: “Ordinary Days,” at the Black Box Theatre through August 17

Any day you see a show at Moline's Black Box Theatre is never an ordinary day.

Director Shelley Cooper, Augustana College's associate professor of theatre arts, and music director and accompanist Rob Elfline, professor of music at Augustana, have engineered another extraordinary production with Ordinary Days, its music and lyrics by Adam Gwon. First performed in 2008, it's a completely sung-through musical … almost – there are a few bits of dialogue. And during these energetic, funny, touching 90 minutes, four characters sing their thoughts, joys, hopes, and fears, as if to a therapist, to God, or simply to themselves.

Bradley Robert Jensen, Kira Rangel, Evan Gagliardo, and Sarah Lounsberry wield voices big enough to fill an amphitheater, with faces and bodies so expressive, you believe that this is not a performance – they're actually living it. As a twist to this script, and a great way to apprentice young talent, Cooper has added two actors as swings: Jensen Stoneking and Kaden Micklos, musical theatre majors at Augustana, who each understudy two roles. However, they also participate throughout every performance as walk-on characters: a pedestrian, a cabbie, a barista. Micklos and Stoneking performed leads triumphantly in Augustana's March presentation of The Prom (which also had Cooper and Elfline at the helm), and I've enjoyed both in other productions, as well. They're impressive additions to the stellar main cast, and Elfline, reliably professional as always, plays piano solo with barely a break for an hour and a half. Bravo!

A multi-hyphenate theatre expert onstage and off, Jensen plays Warren, a lonely puppy of an aspiring artist who's fascinated by the indifferent strangers around him. He collects little scraps of their lives as he distributes fliers that bear the thoughts of another artist. As the loquacious Warren, Jensen is so sweet and hopeful that he seems at risk of tipping over into despair at any moment. Is this character a shy extrovert or an outgoing introvert? Either way, he's … a bit much. Fate puts him in the path of Rangel's Deb, a rural-born seeker turned driven, frantic, exasperated grad student who's often brimming with barely contained anger – she's a bit much in her own way. Rangel is relatable and hilarious by turns; her frenzied search for fulfillment is sadly touching, and her comedic timing and deliveries are perfection. Also, Rangel's magnificent voice is powerful enough to blast the roof off the place.

Gagliardo plays Jason, who's desperately in love with Lounsberry's Claire. She loves him, too – to a point. However, his surge-ahead-in-life tactics clash with her uncertain, fade-away demeanor. The immensely talented Gagliardo burns with intensity as he sings, filling up the space with passion. And Lounsberry's wonderful voice soars with emotion when alone, but when Claire is with Jason, though the performer's vocal quality is still excellent, the character's demeanor tends toward tense and unsure. Only later do we learn why Claire keeps her love for Jason in harness, instead of letting it gallop freely and carry her away, as he does. On Friday's opening night, in her expression of this revelation, Lounsberry made me cry, and I heard a chorus of sniffles around me, as well.

The review blurbs I saw about the show, all raves, emphasized its New-Yorkness, saying in essence: It captures what it's like to live in the Big Apple. Maybe it does, but I think it simply captures what it's like to live. It's not about towering skyscrapers, miles of subways, the enormous Metropolitan Museum of Art, and huge universities. It's about struggles, uncertainties, the frustrations and joys of pursuing dreams, the devastation of loss, the freedom of learning to persist through it all. That said, the plot does evoke an undeniable, indelible NYC experience that will likely hit you in the gut no matter where you live. The echo of it, in Ordinary Days, gives epiphanies to all the characters. (Though for me, it also mirrored the final scene of a 2004 episode of the series Joan of Arcadia, making me think Gwon saw it, too.) In Cooper's production, the impact of that scene depends on a simple yet striking practical effect that must be sustained for several minutes, and I admire this cast for making that happen.

Lora Adams, the theatre's co-founder and artistic director, handled both the spare, effective scenic design and the costuming with her customary skill and savvy. Warren's jeans, bearing a cluster of colorful appliques on one thigh, are a thing of beauty and a joy forever. Deb's garb includes a denim jacket with a big flower and a long beaded necklace, evoking New Yorker Cyndi Lauper's individualistic abandon. Her demure blue dress' deep hem and jejune quarter-length socks with heels put me in mind of young Dorothy Gale, wandering in countrified innocence through a big, scary new land. Meanwhile, the “hands-off” vibe of Claire's rigid, sober, neutral, straight-line-silhouette suits contrasts well with Jason's comfy, come-hug-me outfits.

In a performance space so intimate that you feel like you're a genuine part of the show, all of Ordinary Days' more-than-proficient artists have put together a captivating theatrical experience. Make time to go!

Ordinary Days runs at the Black Box Theatre (1623 Fifth Avenue, Moline IL) through August 17, and more information and tickets are available by calling (563)284-2350 and visiting TheBlackBoxTheatre.com.