FringeNYC 2013: Aisle Six
When a plague strikes the supermarket, it's up to bright-eyed trainee Melody to save the day. But CAN she? Join Melody on her quest and, along the way, meet the store superhero, maladjusted managers, and an evil puppet.
Official production websiteShow details/ticketing at FringeNYC
Review by Mike Duffy · August 16, 2013
The supermarket can be a fun place to shop. What comes after is the real fun part. But most supermarkets aren’t visited by the plague. The plague pays a visit in Aisle Six, a musical comedy written and directed by Nicola McEldowney. Melody Elbow (McEldowney), a spunky-but-gullible trainee must fulfill her destiny of saving the Super Duper Store.
On her first day Melody falls in love with the non-perishables manager (Jake Lemmenes) and discovers the plague in aisle six (“Baking Supplies, Spices, Candy, Pure Evil”). The Furies are there as well, though we’re never quite sure why, and they are played everything but furious by Richard Fisher, Iliana Inocencio, and Teresa Hui. A number of the songs are catchy, co-composed by McEldowney and Margaret Vigevano. McEldowney’s self-deprecating humor is clever in moments: “It’s how I found it, I just maintain status quo,” says Mustache (Philip Casale), defending himself to the district manager Mini-Stache (Inocencio).
Self- depracation runs throughout the show; its not clear who the cast of the Super Duper Store loathe more, themsleves or their fellow employees. It is Anthony Michael Stokes as Walter/Hondo, an assistant manager with a personal plague of his own, who has the potential to steal the show: Hondo (a puppet) has controlled Walter for years, rendering him speechless. Through Walter/Hondo we see clearest McEldowney’s conceit, that “hate is like the joy of a crotch scratch for the soul,” and that this is a perfectly acceptable part of being human, or of having a job in a grocery.
Aisle Six is a buy-one-get-one on frozen pizzas at the supermarket: filling and predictable.
Preview: Interviews with Artists from Aisle Six
We're asking artists from each show to answer questions about themselves and their work to help our readers get a detailed advance picture of the festival:
All About My Show · aislesixmusical (Director)
- Complete this sentence: My show is the only one in FringeNYC that...?
...has a musical number entitled "A Crotch Scratch For Your Soul" AND a reference to Chef Boyardee. Other fine musicals may have one or the other, but mine has BOTH. Take THAT, Gilbert and Sullivan. - What do you think this show is about? What will audiences take away with them after seeing it?
It's about the worst workplace we've (all of us) ever inhabited, and the comedy we mine from it, even if we don't realize it. Ideally, audiences will take away the absurdity and the madness of the show as a reminder never to take life too seriously (while still taking it passionately). - Who are some of the people who helped you create this show, and what were their important contributions to the finished product?
My chief co-creator on this project was Margaret Vigevano, a first-rate musician who arranged the tunes I had written (note: I am also the writer, lyricist and half the composer for this show) and fleshed them out into fully realized tunes, full of texture and feeling and depth that might never have been there otherwise. Enormous credit also goes to the actors and crew who first brought the show to life for its first production in San Diego, as well as the current team in NYC. I wrote the roles, but those are the people who make them real. In the same vein, my set designer, Brian Carson (and before him my San Diego set designer, Anel Rodriguez) are responsible for bringing the Super Duper Store itself to life. - Tell us about the process you used to achieve your vision of this play in this production.
In this production, as in any, it always comes down to one thing: letting each other figure out how to channel his or her role through his or her own self. That isn't to say they can't "play a character." Of course they should. The point is that they play that character vis-à-vis who THEY are, rather than what they think I want. The more the characters are channeled through the actors, the more you have an ensemble of really genuine, quirky, idiosyncratic portrayals. From there, the more genuine their interaction becomes, and the more heartfelt the overall production. Given that "Aisle Six" is a broad comedy and (to paraphrase a wise cast member in San Diego) the first rule of comedy is to play it deadly serious, I'd say heartfelt is the watchword here. - Are there any cautions or warnings you’d like to make about the show (e.g., not appropriate for little kids)?
The show is not appropriate for little kids. It's not overtly filthy or anything, but there is a reference to auto-eroticism with a hand puppet. I don't want to be responsible for the downfall of any hand puppet. - Nicola McEldowney, director/playwright
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