Matthew Sweet wrote one of the great alt-rock albums, and one of the best breakup song cycles, in 1991’s now-classic Girlfriend. Now the LP has become the basis for an unlikely jukebox musical playing through Aug. 9 at L.A.’s Kirk Douglas Theatre. Playwright Todd Almond has kept the timeframe (early ’90s) and the setting (Sweet’s native Nebraska), but reconceived the material to work around a bittersweet and poignant love story between two seemingly mismatched teenage boys just out of high school. It’s a curious production in many ways, but a satisfying one.
The witty and well-observed book, by Todd Almond, depicts with heartfelt poignancy the tentative, shuffle-step nature of gay teen romance circa-1990. Will (Ryder Bach) is the obvious outcast of the pair, with his oversize T-shirt, the streak of dyed hair flopping over his forehead and his penchant for musicals. “I already feel like I’m in ‘Grease’ — the movie, not the country,” he says at one point.
So Will seems genuinely surprised, not to mention tongue-tied, when the handsome, college-bound jock Mike (Curt Hansen) takes an interest in hanging out with him. “He’s football, prom king. Maybe first runner-up, but you know what I mean,” Will says.
But Mike turns out to have a sensitive side, including a genuine interest in music — the songs of Sweet in particular — and a talent for guitar and singing that he gradually realizes may overshadow his stated plan to pursue a career in medicine like his father. Mike also has an unseen girlfriend from a neighboring town, but it soon becomes clear that he sees in Will a kindred spirit as he questions his own sexual identity.
Throughout the roughly 90-minute production, director Les Waters and his team seem to recognize that his characters’ approach to romance is cautious, understated and fundamentally Midwestern, rooted in a place where even a brush of the shoulder can seem flamboyant. It’s only when the boys break into song that their hearts really begin to soar.
See my full review on TheWrap.com