Paul Kolnik
Cast members of the acclaimed musical "Contact" perform
high-energy dances at the Ahmanson Theatre.
By Barbara McGuire
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
“Contact’s” audience loses contact with
reality as the dividing line between romantic fantasy and harsh
actuality becomes imperceptible to the audience.
Showing through Sept. 1 at the Music Center of Los Angeles
County, “Contact” takes viewers on a journey through
three short stories, each told from a different time period. The
tales were cleverly crafted with unpredictable twists and turns by
writer John Weidman, and choreographed beautifully by Susan
Stroman.
The first short story, titled “Swinging,” starts the
evening out on the lightest note of the show. Taking place in a
forest glade in 1767, this segment features only three dancers, and
was fashioned after a painting by Jean-Honoré Fragonard called
“The Swing.”
A gold border around the stage makes it appear that audience is
gazing into an antique picture frame whose photo has suddenly
sprung to life. This design helps to further blur the line between
reality and fantasy.
 Paul Kolnik Alan Campbell and
Holly Cruikshank star in "Contact," the 2000 Tony
Award winner for Best Musical. In this story, Mindy Franzese Wild
plays a tantalizing and flaunty young woman who swings on a wooden
swing and prances around the set mischievously. Though dressed in
pink, Wild’s character uses implicit sexual innuendo
throughout the scene in hopes of arousing her two male escorts.
Such moves never fail to elicit laughs from the audience.
Following this comical and silly story about the fantasies of an
aristocrat is “Did You Move?” This serious tale takes
place in 1954 in an Italian restaurant and features a submissive
and abused housewife who dreams of breaking free from the chains of
her controlling husband. Meg Howrey perfectly plays the
enthusiastic wife whose jubilant spirit her husband is always
trying to break.
Adam Dannheisser, as the cold and strict husband, tells his wife
to stay put as he makes repeated trips to the buffet.
Each time her husband leaves, however, Howrey’s character
does the opposite, falling into a fantasy world in which she is a
prima ballerina.
Howrey dances across the stage, interacting with other diners
and waiters in perfect harmony. Her smile, her mannerisms,
everything works together to paint the perfect picture of a
housewife just dying to be her own woman.
One of the best moments of the evening takes place during this
story when the whole restaurant breaks out into dance as the
husband leaves in desperate search for some rolls. Everyone, from a
pregnant woman to an almost blind bus boy, gets involved in this
number, and the result is a magnificent, synchronized work of
art.
The final story, “Contact,” which takes place in
present-day New York City, centers around an isolated and
delusional advertising executive, Mike Wiley, who is looking for
just this ““ contact with another human being. The line
between fantasy and reality is once again blurred in this scene as
Wiley, played to his full eccentricity by Alan Campbell, breaks
down and almost commits suicide.
Throughout the scene the audience believes they are watching the
action in present time, but by the end of the story it’s
unclear whether all that’s been played out on stage has been
a figment of the Wiley’s imagination.
What is important in this tale, however, isn’t figuring
out what was real and what was pure illusion. Rather, the value can
be found in the peek the audience is given of the effects of
city-life anonymity ““ a theme they are probably all too
familiar with from their own life experiences.
The creators of “Contact” were no doubt hoping that
the fantasy of this scene would spark audience members to question
the realities of the often lonely world they live in today.
The musical “Contact” takes viewers through a
dream-like sequence, presenting for re-examination lessons of the
past and present.
Providing variety not only through featuring a different time
period with each story, but also through exhilarating dance numbers
to both classical tunes and more contemporary songs, such as
“Simply Irresistible” by Robert Palmer, it’s no
small wonder this production won the Tony Award for Best Musical in
2000. Welded together are an excellent, didactic storyline and
well-choreographed scenes, a combination not often found in any
production.
MUSICAL: “Contact” is at the
Ahmanson Theatre, 135 N. Grand Ave. in downtown Los Angeles,
through Sept. 1. Performances are Tuesday through Saturday at 8
p.m., with matinees on Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m. Ticket prices
range from $25-$75 and can be purchased by calling (213) 628-2772
or online at www.taperahmanson.com.