Come On, Get Tappy! (Outrage Onstage/SecondStory Rep)
Stage Review - Come On, Get Tappy!
Presented By: Outrage Onstage / SecondStory Rep - Redmond, WA
Show Run: August 23 - September 15, 2024
Date Reviewed: Saturday, August 31, 2024
Reviewed By: Greg Heilman
When I consider all of the work that I’ve seen from Harry Turpin, his choreography, direction, or other creative contribution to live theatre, there are a few things I know. First, whatever I’m going to watch will be fun, his choreography will be big and bold, and his actors will always look like they’re enjoying themselves on stage. The same goes for his stage direction. Whether the moments are light or heavy, his casts are fully engaged in their work, and what is presented on stage feels more like a family than a group of individuals coming together collectively to portray a series of characters. It would follow, then, that Come On, Get Tappy!, the brand new musical written, composed, directed, and choreographed by Harry (Stacie Hart is the co-writer of the book as well as the Assistant Director), which runs on stage at SecondStory Rep through September 15, would embody all of those characteristics that have been a part of Harry’s work all along. And if you go into “Tappy” with that assumption, you won’t be disappointed. This musical is chock full of what we’ve come to expect with work that Harry is associated with. Despite the small size of the SecondStory Rep (SSR) stage, there are big show stopping dance numbers, there are some intimate and poignant scenes, there is some excellent acting and there are a whole show’s full of laughs. I love seeing original work hitting the stages in the Seattle area, and there is no other piece that I can think of that matches the personality of its author more than this.
Don’t get me wrong, “Tappy” isn’t perfect. This being the first run of the show, there are some things that need to be worked on, most notably the timing. Coming in at a little over 3 hours by my calculation (including intermission), it’s long. It isn’t a show that feels like it drones on and is a chore to sit through, no. But it does feel like it takes a certain amount of time to work its way through the plot, and with an 8 pm showtime, it can make for a late night. But the challenge ahead of Harry and his team isn’t an easy one. With plenty of fun moments accompanied by catchy melodies and entertaining dance numbers, it will come down to the question of what to take out, to make the time more manageable. Tappy isn’t all fun and games, though. Harry has taken on a few notably serious things here as well, most directly the idea of moving on, or being stuck in the past. What happens to us if we’re locked in to a certain point in our lives, the world passing us by as we remain stagnant? Secondarily, and perhaps deliberately, or not, he brings up the idea of the child star, particularly the kind that is forced into the entertainment industry, the kind of overbearing parents that live vicariously (see above) through their children, and what the pressure they put on their progeny does to the younger set. Harry weaves these into the story nicely, but if the audience doesn’t pick up on these aspects of the show, that’s ok, there’s enough entertainment value in the singing, dancing, and story to keep them engaged.
The plot isn’t necessarily anything totally new or unique, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t fun, or that the story isn’t well constructed, it is. It centers on The Tappy McCrackin Variety Hour, a children’s show with host Tappy, who is played by a different young actor every year. After each child playing Tappy has covered the show for a year, they close out her season with a party to celebrate, and then it’s implied that the reigns are turned over to the next one, and so it continues. Tappy (Allie Nolan), we have to assume that’s not her real name, though that’s never explored, is daughter to Hannah, the original Tappy McCrackin, the parent I referred to above, who just can’t move on from her days as a star, regardless of how long ago that was. In order to hold on to, or relive, the past, Tappy’s mother (Olivia Lee) conceives a plan with the help of evil scientist Scissors (Mauro Bozzo) to throw the Tappy McCrackin enterprise into chaos. Trying their best to foil the plan are a group of former Tappys and Betty Jean (Britt Boyd), the original creator of the Tappy character and her show. As the plot progresses, allegiances change (and change back), people get frozen (and unfrozen), popcorn and soda dance, and all sorts of craziness ensues. It’s a wild story that feels part silly musical and part Disney Channel movie.
Telling the story well requires a design team that believes in what it is doing and understands the vision as well as a cast that isn’t just comfortable with singing and dancing, but also one that grasps the humor that Harry and Stacie have written into the show. There’s a lot of corniness to the comedy, which requires a degree of physicality, exaggeration of expression and movement, and a certain timing. In the performance I saw, I feel like this group got off to a bit of a slow start, or maybe it was their attempt to garner laughs before the audience has had a chance to learn the who’s who of the cast of characters. Once that’s covered, and as the play progresses, in other words the more the audience knows about the personalities of the characters, the more on target the humor is and the better the show gets. As an ensemble, the group is good, but when they break off individually, or in pairs or small groups, they’re even better.
Though the story centers around Tappy McCrackin, when speaking of protagonists and antagonists, it’s clear that “Tappy” is all about Blythe and Hannah. Ceili Caruso plays Blythe, herself a former Tappy and charged with getting to the bottom of whatever plan Hannah has up her sleeve. Everyone knows she’s up to something, but in order to get closer, Blythe signs on as Tappy’s nanny while her mother is out of town. Ceili’s Blythe lights up the stage, and is a wonderful vocalist, not just managing her own solo numbers, like “Awakening”, a transformative song, expertly, but also guiding the younger Allie Nolan’s Tappy harmoniously through their duet “You and Me”. Ceili’s performance raises the quality level of everyone around her. On the other side of the coin is Hannah. Olivia Lee is a true villain here, willing to use anyone who can help her and discard them without a thought. Dastardly is probably the best way to describe her character, and the more villainous Hannah gets, the better Olivia is. Her partner in crime is Scissors, the mad scientist played by Mauro Bozzo. It’s nice to see Mauro in a role like this after his recent turns in shows that show off his more classical abilities. He’s just epic in this performance, and with Hannah he is part of a pair that is, yes, evil, but not exactly expert at it. Their scene together early in Act 2 contains everything that is wonderful about “Tappy”. There’s a ton of humor in it, it’s excellently acted, it features Costume Designer Kristin Haskins’ extraordinary piece that is Scissors’ wardrobe, and it also contains one of the most tender and poignant moments in the show, “Hannah’s Lament”. For my part, that scene between Scissors and Hannah is my favorite scene of the show. Rounding out the group of leads is, of course Tappy herself. What a refreshing performance from Allie Nolan. As the spoiled child star off camera to the sweeter than sugar on screen personality, Allie’s ability not just to grasp the humor and personality of each side of her character, her aptitude in switching back and forth between the two is remarkable. There’s a remarkable future for Allie.
Supporting this group is an ensemble that largely represents the cast and crew of the Tappy McCrackin Variety Hour. Led by the hilarious pairing of Pixie and Bubbles (Merry Senn and Meagan Castillo), they are responsible to for the lion’s share of the physical and over the top comedy. Merry and Meagan are like a classic comedy duo in a variety show. Their “Stuck With You” is a scene stealer and is the funniest number in the show, and Kristin’s costumes for these two are super funny as well. The supporting cast also includes Kyle Sinclair as Bill, the Tappy McCrackin producer and an old friend of Blythe’s and Britt Boyd as Betty Jean. Bill’s performance is nice, though as he reconnects with Blythe, I didn’t pick up as much chemistry between the two as I’d hoped. And for Britt’s Betty Jean, in a show that is already long, I found myself wishing she had more exposition than she had. It feels strange to ask for more of a character on one hand and look for the show to be compressed on the other, but these are the challenges of a new show. There’s a bit with her number “Alone”, but again, it’s a little while until the show gets going and I would have liked to have seen more of Betty Jean as it went on. Rounding out the group is Mandela Gardner as Tappy’s assistant and stylist Fredrico, Miki Murray as Hannah’s assistant Suzie, Victoria Knight, Sydney Kaser, and Aida Bowen as the other members of the group of former Tappys, Haunz Stroschein, a swing who stepped into the role of the Dog Trainer in this performance, and Dov Matthews and Kyle Laird as the other crew members for the Variety Hour. All and all, this is a cast that really works in delivering the humor when it’s needed and the tenderness that the show contains. It feels like a well prepared group that thoroughly enjoys what they’re doing on stage, their enthusiasm most definitely comes through.
Creatively, there’s a lot to like about “Tappy” as well. From the live orchestra under the direction of Music Director Mark Rabe, to Harry’s choreography that isn’t just about tap, though there’s plenty of that, but also about making the best use of the space that he has to work with at SecondStory, designing big numbers that don’t feel bloated. It’s a phrase I’ve used before, but it’s so easy to make a show feel too big for a small space, but here Harry uses all of the available space in the theatre space. Meanwhile, Robin Macartney’s name might be more associated with some of the larger theatre spaces in Seattle, but her set design for “Tappy” again makes the most of the space that it is being performed in and, in partnership with prop designer Jack Jessamyn Bateman-Lino, from the beginning to the end of the show, her design provides the information needed to support each scene. Robin represents the backstage area for the variety show, helping to capture the chaos of the moments right before “go live”, the proscenium that backdrops the Tappy McCrackin hour, making it feel like the audience is watching a live broadcast, complete with roving TV camera, and the secret location where the society of former Tappys meet. Adding to the scenic design are Jacob Viramontes lighting and Kairon Bullock’s sound. When a show moves between so many locations, having a quality lighting design is imperative, and Jacob’s work here is excellent, as is Kairon’s, particularly when Scissors is working with Hannah on her evil planning. Act 2 has some extraordinary examples of the this pair’s work.
New and original works aren’t exactly a dime-a-dozen in Seattle. Coming out of Covid especially, few theaters are willing to risk putting up a new show, opting instead for known entities, with their own drawing power. So, kudos to producer Outrage Onstage and SecondStory Rep for coming together to present Come On, Get Tappy! The new production from Harry Turpin and Stacie Hart is a fun and funny musical with catchy songs, a good story, and excellent singing, dancing, and acting that come together with a well executed design to present a show that most definitely has a future, once it gets tightened up a bit. And while it runs a bit long in its current incarnation, the foundation is there, and given how entertaining it is now, I can’t wait to see what it becomes as it matures.
Come On, Get Tappy!, the new play from Harry Turpin and Stacie Hart and produced by Outrage Onstage, runs through September 15 at SecondStory Rep in Redmond. For more information and tickets, visit https://comeongettappy.com/ or https://www.secondstoryrep.org/.
Photo credit: Colin Madison Photography
