Two years ago in Coronado, Blindspot Collective co-produced a new musical called “Underground,” where workers and customers in a bar told their personal stories through the music of singer-songwriter Ben Folds.
Now comes Blindspot’s “Karaoke Dreams,” a new musical where workers and customers in a bar tell their stories through songs they perform on a karaoke stage. Both shows even share a principal cast member, talented actor-singer Shane Hennessey.
But where “Underground” was deep and introspective and the songs all sounded much the same, “Karaoke Dreams” is a nonstop, love-themed party, with a wide range of upbeat pop, rock, country, dance and Mexican songs from ’70s-era ABBA to today’s Lizzo. Written and directed by Blindspot’s executive artistic director Blake McCarty, it’s a fun, immersive evening of well-performed music and dancing.
“Karaoke Dreams” opened Thursday at The Loft, a 120-seat performance lounge inside the Price Center at UC San Diego. Blindspot developed the show through a partnership with UCSD, which provided performance space through its Depot Residency Program. On the show’s opening night, many of the audience members were karaoke-loving UCSD students.
The show is presented as a series of vignettes built around characters in the bar and their relationships. Among the mini-stories are that of new divorcée Cora looking for love; estranged siblings Daniel and Olive reuniting after their mother’s death; young-at-heart auntie Stella and her closeted gay nephew Jude; newly single Nora secretly in love with her best friend Cora; Mexican college student Luna fearful of ICE arrest and deportation; and the tumultuous romance between club bartender Hazel and karaoke DJ Myles.
Ian Brandon and music director Lyndon Pugeda’s vocal arrangements are outstanding. For each vignette, they’ve taken four to six songs from different eras are artfully woven them together so the characters can use lyrics to bare their souls. They’ve also created full-cast harmonies, contrapunto melodies and spoken lyric moments.
Some of the show’s best interpreted songs include OneRepublic’s “I Lived,” Coldplay’s “I Will Fix You,” Alanis Morissette’s “Hand in My Pocket,” Lily Allen’s “F* You,” Florence and the Machines’ “Shake It Out,” Avril Lavigne’s “What the Hell” and Macy Gray’s “I Try.”
I also appreciated how cleverly some songs were applied to character situations, like the 1970s Supertramp hits “Dreamer” and “The Logical Song” clearly explaining Luna’s complicated legal problems.
For a new musical, “Karaoke Dreams” is in terrific shape. It’s very well-rehearsed, with lively and fine-tuned group choreography by Micah Parra and a strong vocal cast, including Hennessey as Rob, Brittney Tiger as Cora, Montse Cabrera as Luna, Dacara Seward as Hazel, Taylor Renee Henderson as Nora, Matthew Javier as Zane and Michaela Nasello as Olive.
“Karaoke Dreams” could still use some polishing. It’s way too long at nearly 2 hours, 45 minutes, and begins to lose momentum at the two-hour mark. Not all of the story vignettes are interesting or realistic, particularly Hazel and Myles’ nonsensical breakups and makeups. And the cast performances unevenly range in size from understated to over the top.
Still, “Karaoke Dreams” has promise for a new show and it smartly targets a younger audience hungry for new forms of immersive entertainment.
‘Karaoke Dreams’
When: 7 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays. Through Aug. 3
Where: The Loft, Price Center, 3151 Matthews Lane, UCSD campus, La Jolla
Tickets: $35
Online: blindspotcollective.org