Nia Chavis and Sam O'Neill in Glü
The Timber Lake Playhouse tries something new with its world-premiere musical Glü. Directed by Tommy Ranieri, and with a book and lyrics by Jake Lockwood and music and lyrics by Alexander Sage Oyen, this heartwarming tale gives audiences a chance to see something local, and possibly even familiar.
The musical is set in Carroll County, Illinois, the real-life home of Timber Lake. Outside of a couple regional references, the writing doesn’t feel especially local, but it is nice to see a story about regular folk dealing with everyday problems: love, family, and where the next paycheck is coming from. Glü's plot follows Lizzy (Sarah Daniels), a social media influencer from New York who’s temporarily relocated back to Illinois after her grandpa passes away and leaves her his prize possession: a glue factory. While there, she meets the company's small staff. Leona (Nia Chavis) is the head of security and has a hilariously overblown crush on delivery guy Kevin (Sam O’Neill). Mike (Drew Perez Harris), Mary (Darcie A. Hingula), and Margo (Kate McQuillan) compose the R&D team responsible for developing new adhesives. Meredith (Emma Theroit) oversees paperwork for the company and feels overlooked and underappreciated. And then there’s the plant supervisor, Tyler (Heath Saunders), who immediately butts heads with Lizzy.
Lizzy’s torn because she would much rather continue her hustle as an influencer, but has been saddled with her grandpa’s factory. She weighs selling the factory as she learns about its culture, people, and history, and clashes with the employees as they all seem to want something different for the future of the company. Tensions are further heightened when a prospective buyer (Anthony Scarpone) arrives. After that, there are narrative beats I won’t spoil here. But the overall focus of the story is everyday people dealing with everyday problems. There are no historical figures or great tragedies or mystical lands – just normal folk. Outside of the clever scenic design by Jonas Harrison, Ranieri goes for a decidedly representational approach, where everything is real.
I did feel, during Friday’s opening performance, that there were moments in which this realistic approach got in its own way. Like when a frustrated Tyler goes on the Internet to find out more about his new boss, and watches a video on his phone, with sound coming out of the phone instead of the speakers, making his sleuthing totally inscrutable in Timber Lake’s expansive space. Or when some scenes occured upstairs in the boss’s office, with actors facing upstage for not insignificant lengths of time.
There were also some tonal inconsistencies that I’ll chalk up to Glü being a new script finding its legs in front of an audience. Case in point: the bad guys’ “scheme.” It has Hallmark levels of intricacy in that it tracks while you’re watching it, but if you give it a second’s thought on the drive home, it totally falls apart. Perhaps it could be played in a way where it reads as “It’s musical theatre – just go with it!” But here it’s played earnestly, and just doesn’t feel like something a real person would ever do.
Likewise, the R&D department alternatively swing between being bit ensemble members in a musical and real people with nuance, sometimes in the middle of a scene. None of this is a knock on the performers, as I think they all do wonderful jobs with what they’ve been given. But I imagine that when Glü plays in front of an audience in the future (and I hope it does), these beats will have been evened out.
For a world premiere, there’s a lot to enjoy here. And in a surprising deviation from the norm, I found myself enjoying the second act of this musical much more than the first. It felt like the music and book finally hit their strides with some delightful comic heightening and creative choices. The first act, while decent, felt repetitive both musically and narratively. Many of the first-act songs seemed to follow a similar structure, regardless of which character was singing, while many plot points were hit over and over again to ensure we didn’t forget why they were still important following the intermission.
Harrison’s set utilizes the Timber Lake turntable well, with a large two-story cube making up the various rooms in the glue factory, both inside and out. Included in the set are many practical lights that heighten the realistic tone of the world. The lighting design by Alexander Le Vaillant Freer is colorful and often fun, even if it did occasionally feel too busy on Friday.
The entire cast gives splendid performances under Ranieri's great direction; I particularly enjoyed Chavis and O’Neill, who have some of Glü's most earnest and funny material. And I loved Harris, Hingula, and McQuillan, who go for broke in “Taped to the Wall.”
Overall, my wife and I had a blast. Glü feels like it still has some growing to do, but as is, it’s already a really fun show. I can’t commend Timber Lake enough for taking the chance on something new, and I’m thrilled they poured as much talent and energy into it as they did.
Glü runs at the Timber Lake Playhouse (8215 Black Oak Road, Mt. Carroll IL) through August 31, and more information and tickets are available by calling (815) 244-2035 or visiting TimberLakePlayhouse.org.
