| |
CONVENIENCE is a sung-through
musical about family, the ties that bind and the ones we struggle
to break. A single mom and her estranged twenty-six-year-old son
have news for each other, but neither can find the words nor the
courage. Liz can't tell her son, Vince, that she's remarrying and
moving away; Vince is afraid of how Liz will react when he tells
her about his boyfriend. During one funny, awkward, touching week,
they come to realize what so many families discover: The things
they feared would tear them apart end up bringing them closer together.
A mother and son learn from their broken past and the promise of
a different future that they can walk through a doorway without
slamming it shut forever.
 |
ON THE BUS
(sung by Jim Poulos)
Vince starts out on a 15-hour bus ride back home to his Mom,
and while he rides he contemplates why he can’t get over
this “bump” in his life. |
|
LITTLE SPACEMAN
(sung by Melissa Rain Anderson, Jim Poulos, Mary Jo McConnell
and Ron DeStefano)
After a knockdown fight, Vince and Liz remember what it used
to be like, when life was as simple as saying goodnight at bedtime. |
|
IN THE MORNING
(sung by Mary Jo McConnell and Jim Poulos)
Mother and son look back at the separation that has defined
their relationship, and find a way to come together. |
"The score is quick, complex, and extremely
catchy…melodic, highly theatrical, and praiseworthy. Coffin's
book effectively mixes humor and tension, and is witty and sincere."
"Like the rest of the cheering, laughing, crying audience,
I was much involved in this affecting, life-affirming experience."
"Theatre entertains, that much is given. But great theatre
teaches as it entertains. CONVENIENCE is great theatre."
“Coffin has a sense of humor that keeps his score from being
one-note serious in its barbed exchanges.”
“I've known for a while that Gregg Coffin has the unusual
ability to create music that not only complements but also advances
a play--whether it’s an original score or arrangements of
someone else’s material. But nothing prepared me for "Convenience",
which is, very simply, a darned good musical. “Convenience“
measures up as an accomplished piece by any standard.“
“In composer Gregg Coffin's smartly appealing musical, "Convenience,"
the author proves that sometimes you can come home again. In fact,
sometimes you really have to. Coffin's sung-through play is a funny,
poignant and tuneful examination of a broken modern middle-class
family tentatively putting itself together. It is a probing look
at the lasting effects of divorce on both children and parents,
showing how difficult it can be moving on from that emotional trauma…Coffin
subtly acknowledges generational differences in musical styles,
showing himself not only a particularly distinguished ballad writer
but a clever humorous lyricist. He knowingly explores bumpy terrain
with sharp humor and a variety of appealing musical idioms.“
|
