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“Freeway Dreams” Breezes Through Rush Hour
Arcadia Weekly May 27, 2017
Adults having fun at the photo booth. – Courtesy photo / Kidspace
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“Freeway Dreams” (L to R) Bull-In-A China Shop Andrew (Darren Mangler) inserts himself in a burgeoning traffic jam as Nice Girl Deborah (Leslie Rubino), Sassy Casting Director Brenda (Stephanie B. Andersen)and horrified Actor Pizza Dude Lee (Jonathan Brett) lose more real estate on the Hollywood Freeway. – Courtesy photo
By Christian Romo
The colorful, catchy, and whimsical “Freeway Dreams” debuted Friday night at the Brickhouse Theater in North Hollywood, delivering daydreams of stardom from the front seats of four struggling Angelinos. The musical, composed by Wayne Moore and directed by Jim Blanchette, injects Broadway melodies into Los Angeles’s two most defining features: Hollywood, and traffic.
LA takes movies and cars seriously, but thankfully, this show doesn’t. Instead, it finds humor and heartbreak in the struggle of those trying to succeed in the entertainment industry, weaving the fantasies of four different drivers stuck on the Hollywood Freeway listening to traffic updates in between disco marathons.
Andrew, played by Darren Mangler, imagines sessions with a German therapist, and even in his best fantasies he’s still a loser who can’t get the girl. Deborah, the girl in Andrew’s dreams, played by Leslie Rubino, plays phone tag with a disinterested boyfriend and a line of unimpressive suitors, all while trying to make her yoga class taught by Erik Estrada. Brenda, the talent agent played by Stephanie Andersen, resorts to looking at actors stuck on the freeway to fill a role in Stephen Spielberg’s new movie, a role that Lee, played by Jonathan Brett, would love to fill if he weren’t delivering pizzas in between auditions. The struggles are both universal and LA-specific, making them relatable to anyone from the Valley to the South Bay and beyond.
Most of the show’s charm comes from the songs, which rotate between heartfelt longing (“My Superman,” “Just A Fantasy”) and sexual desire (“Big Woman Needs a Big Man,” “Doncha Wanna Know”), never letting the plot go more than two minutes without music. “And A Pizza To Go” provides a roadmap to seduction using only pasta, while “The Bette Davis Chorus” beautifully worships (or scandalizes, depending on your mood) one of the greatest actresses in history. Projections behind the actors frame each fantasy and decorate each song with its own unique flair, expanding the small but well-blocked performance space.
Even through a psychedelic second act, “Freeway Dreams” never slows down, cramming fifteen songs into a one-hour runtime. Some of its themes are PG-13, but any fan of Hollywood or hater of their morning commute will giggle through this production, humming its tunes on the hopefully clear drive back home. The show runs on Fridays and Saturdays at the Brickhouse Theater until June 11th. Visit brownpapertickets.com for tickets and writeactreptheatre.org for more information.
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