Contrary to popular opinion, not all actors can work a room. Yes, they can embody a character, get lost in the truth of the moment and enfold an audience in the tension of a play, but the ability to turn up the lights and face a reactive audience can be the stuff of nightmares.
However, it is a skill that both Trevor Hoffman and Zane Walters fully display in Cinnabar Theater’s Gutenberg! The Musical! Cinnabar’s second show “on the road” runs in Warren Auditorium on the campus of Sonoma State University through Jan. 26.
A title ending with an exclamation point should tell one all they need about what type of play it is. Meta-theatrical plays are not new. Perhaps the best-known entry in this genre of entertainment is the movie Waiting for Guffman. That the genre is done a lot and the jokes are predictable (bordering on sophomoric) is less critical in a show like this than whether or not the actors can hold an audience’s attention.
In a nutshell, the answer is yes. Donning multiple hats (literally), Hoffman and Walters dance, sing and spritz—with some excellent water bottle choreography—their way through a backers audition for their big Broadway musical.
Bud (Hoffman), a senior barista at Starbucks, and Doug (Walters) have decided to write a Broadway musical. After two failed attempts, the hapless duo tries their luck with historical fiction (That’s “fiction that’s true,” Bud informs us). They choose Johannes Gutenberg’s creation of the printing press as their subject. Of course, they know next to nothing about Gutenberg, medieval Germany or getting a play to Broadway, but that’s not going to stop them.
Aissa Simbulan’s set is a gorgeous example of how one must be good to appear they are doing something badly. A lesser designer might have gone over the top or too minimalistic with the “unfinished” set, but Simbulan hits a harmonious and tricky middle ground.
Similarly gifted is musical director and onstage pianist Brian Senello, who has the rare gift of knowing when the music is a character and how best to support the actors instead of making the actors support the music.
If one wants to turn off their brain for two hours and just laugh with three talented entertainers, then Gutenberg! The Musical! has their name printed all over it.
Cinnabar Theater presents ‘Gutenberg! The Musical!’ through Jan. 26 at Warren Auditorium in Ives Hall at Sonoma State University. 1801 E. Cotati Ave., Rohnert Park. Fri–Sat, 7:30pm; Sun, 2pm. $38–$60 plus parking fee. 707.763.8920. cinnabartheater.org.
