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Treaty 321! A Musical

nytheatre.com review by Amy Rhodes
August 15, 2005

If you are willing to check your sense of logic at the door and just have a good time, then check out Treaty 321! A Musical. This musical comedy offers a lot of laughs, great performances, and rocking musical numbers.Treaty 321! is the story of Peter, a Gererian citizen who joins the army to fight the neighboring nation of Plebia only to find that he has fallen in love with a Plebeian girl named Jill. Peter must then decide which is more important to fight for: his girl or his country.With a book and lyrics by Christopher Buckley, the show’s love story gets bogged down by countless subplots and one too many self-referential jokes about theatre. However, the muddled plot is more than made up for by the sheer amount of fun the show is. The show boasts toe-tapping music/musical arrangement by Stephen L. Murphy and Lenny (a pseudonym), campy choreography by Jenn Diminni, wonderful costumes by Jessa-Raye Court, and a clever, colorful set designed by Michael Wehner.Director Sam Scalamoni keeps the mirth moving throughout, and deftly handles the large cast. The cast is uniformly good. Chris Matthias and Megan Lavner are adorable as the romantic leads, Peter and Jill. Bob Barth, who plays the show’s narrator, is hilarious as he toys with the actors and the audience throughout the show. Other standouts include Thay Floyd as the army’s token gay, Glennis McMurray as Peter’s quirky ex-wife, and Derek Travis Collard as the army’s wimpy courier. And Thadd Krueger shines in dual roles as the show’s stage manager and an enormous piece of cheesecake.No, you didn’t read that last sentence incorrectly. The stage manager also plays a piece of cheesecake. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but by the time the cheesecake comes on stage the audience was enjoying themselves too much to care.