Stage Review (OSF) - Lizard Boy
Stage Review - Lizard Boy
Presented By: Oregon Shakespeare Festival - Ashland, OR
Show Run: June 11 - October 12, 2024
Date Reviewed: Thursday, July 25, 2024
Reviewed By: Greg Heilman
What is it they say about the number three? That’s right, “Three is the magic number!” I can’t think of something that applies to more than Lizard Boy, the new musical from Seattle-based actor, composer, playwright, and all around talent Justin Huertas, running on stage at Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s Thomas Theatre through October 12, in a production directed by Brandon Ivie. If I’m being completely honest, Lizard Boy is the reason why I hopped in my car for a second time this season for the 8-ish hour drive from Seattle to Ashland, anything else that I was able to see would just be gravy, or icing on the cake, or whichever phrase you prefer. Thankfully, that was my attitude when I walked up to the door on Wednesday evening to see Much Ado About Nothing and was greeted with a sign telling me the show was cancelled due to health issues with the cast. Having interviewed Justin on my previous trip (head to our webpage or YouTube channel to see the chat), I was even more excited to take this in, and boy was I not disappointed. Lizard Boy is everything I hoped for, and then some. While I was first introduced to Justin’s work last year here in Seattle with his enjoyable Lydia and the Troll at Seattle Rep, this production is on another level.
Oh, right, the “three is a magic number thing”. Well, that’s all about the cast, Justin, Kiki DeLohr, and William A. Williams. Each a multi-talented performer in their own right, participating vocally and instrumentally, all while moving the plot along with their characters. In Lizard Boy, Justin plays Trevor, the title character who has been living the last twenty years as a recluse, covered in dragon scales as a result of being present on the playground where a dragon was killed upon the eruption of the Mount St. Helens volcano. Ironically, the setting of the story is Seattle, of course, but it takes place during the annual Monster Fest celebration, where it’s customary to dress, well, like Trevor, who himself only feels comfortable coming out of his apartment during this one night each year. And being lonely, he decides to take a risk and look into online dating, through which he meets Cary (William A. Williams). At the same time, Trevor has been having dreams, or perhaps nightmares, of a strange and sort of exotic blonde (Kiki DeLohr) singing to him. Once Trevor and Cary meet, and decide, after a back and forth that is well acted and even better sung, to go out for the evening, Lizard Boy comes face to face with every aspect of his life, which is where the story gets real, and where it separates itself from anything else that I’ve seen lately. Through Trevor’s interactions with Cary, and eventually with the Siren of his dreams, he must come to grips and accept that what defines him is who he is, not what he is, and that there’s a place in this world for him, just as there’s a place for friendship, love, and hope, regardless of what we all may be feeling lately. It’s such a good story, and laid out in a way that tackles a lot but never feels like it is doing too much. And it’s a fabulous story of hope, told through Justin’s music that is not just catchy and smart, but is also more than just a way to move the story along.
And to make this all work, with just three people in the cast, not only is it a requirement that each performer do whatever is required of them, but it also takes a director like Brandon Ivie to bring it all together, someone who is intimately familiar with Justin’s vision and has been with the show for a long time. And the performances are inspirational, but don’t take my word for it. Justin plays guitar and cello in the show, and even before it started, someone sitting behind me said “Oh, wow, I play cello and it’s so cool to see a cello on stage in a play”. From the many teenagers in the audience, this was a common refrain. They didn’t just see characters they could relate to on stage, because whether or not a boy looks like a lizard, he’s still human, but they saw instruments that they’ve played on stage. And in a story where Justin interrogates the idea of what makes a hero, perhaps in this case he needs to look in the mirror. He’s doing what is absolutely required of young playwrights, he’s making theatre accessible to new and more youthful audiences. And in how many shows do you see kazoos? There’s a whole musical number performed with these and other classroom instruments, things that every one of us have played before, so really, if you don’t know guitar, or cello, or ukulele, or piano, there’s still a place for you in theatre, that’s one of the broader messages here. Out of all the instrumentalists, though, Kiki is both a percussion section and foley team unto herself. And not to be outdone, William’s talent extends beyond guitar and piano and into beatboxing as well, so between the three of them, I’m thinking there’s little, if anything, they cannot do on stage. These are three amazing performances from three incredibly talented artists.
Musically, as impressed as I was by last year’s Lydia and the Troll, Justin’s work here is just stellar. Songs range from straight up humorous, to angrily intense, and everything in between. Music Director Steven Tran, who also worked with Justin on “Lydia”, has created a harmonious work that could stand on its own regardless of the story being told on stage, though I’d never dare separate the two. And from a design perspective, the show is solid here as well, especially with Brian Tovar’s lighting. From the way the neon flashes on the stage when Kiki plays a well timed single note on the piano, to the scene in which Siren struggles to bring Trevor further into their shared nightmare, Brian’s lighting doesn’t just set or support the mood of each particular scene, he literally drives it home, and in concert with Kevin Heard’s sound design, the audience feels like they’re being sucked into this world that Justin has built in the story. On the subject of Justin’s world, I mentioned before how he has a knack for depicting the grittier side of Seattle, well Suzu Sakai (scenic design) and Katherine Freer (projection design) bring Justin’s vision to life, while calling out some fantastic Seattle landmarks in the process.
There aren’t many shows that I come out of and think, “Wow, everyone NEEDS to see this”, but Justin Huertas’ new musical Lizard Boy is right up there near the top of that very short list. This story of friendship, love, and that elusive moving target of hope is pure gold, and he tells it all the while redefining what it is to be a hero. In all aspects, musically and theatrically, Lizard Boy is a winner. I wish I had seen it in Seattle before it moved to OSF, but I’m genuinely happy I’ve gotten to see any version of it at all, much less this fantastic one currently on stage at Ashland. And if you can’t make it to OSF this year, let’s all work together to make sure that the show builds a life of its own, and it comes back to Seattle, and beyond.
The Oregon Shakespeare Festival production of Lizard Boy runs on stage at the Thomas Theatre in Ashland, OR through October 11. For more information on the festival, its history and programming, or this show and how to purchase tickets, visit https://www.osfashland.org/.
Photo credit: Jenny Graham
