Emojiland
Keith Harrison Dworkin, Laura Schein
3Below Theaters
October 18, 2024
At first, the idea of a musical starring emojis seems a little loopy. At second thought, however, it seems kind of perfect. For one thing, everyone in the audience has a phone and can relate. For another, being little repositories of our lives, those phones easily serve as metaphors for real life. Throw in a talented, uber-energetic cast - as 3Below surely has - and you’ve got a brilliantly entertaining show with sneaky profundities at every corner.
At first, the story centers on a seemingly ideal romance between Smize (smiley face, smiley eyes) and Sunny (sunglasses emoji), played by Emily Goes and Frankie Mulcahy. Smize is having a bit of a personal crisis, brough on by having to be so damn smiley all the time (I’m sure customer service workers can relate). Meanwhile, Sunny, being a guy who always wears sunglasses, is predictably cheating, with Kissy Face (Osher Fine, playing a girl who’s always kissing).
In the larger picture, Emojiland (basically, the world inside a single phone) is readying for a system update. The Princess (Aeriol Ascher) conspires with Person in Business Suit Levitating (F. James Raasch) to amass more power for herself, but ends up instead with a co-monarch, The Prince (James Creer).
Another notable addition is Nerd Face (Tuanminh Albert Do), a bespectacled scientist who receives the predictable bullying from the cool kid, Sunny, and is scapegoated as an unwanted migrant (sound familiar?). He’s befriended by another outsider, Skull (Raasch), who talks him into devising a virus so he can delete himself. Instead, Skull turns the virus onto the entire phone, and there we have our major crisis. (Co-creator Laura Schein, who attended the performance, explained that not only was the show created before the pandemic, its first Off-Broadway run was abruptly ended by same.)
The show demands an extreme level of commitment, and the 3Below cast delivers in spades, along with generous side servings of talent. As Nerd Face, Do speaks in long runs of polysyllabic words, performs some of the more challenging songs (“Zeros and Ones,” “Cross My Bones”), delivers an amusing level of social obliviousness, and even throws in some capoeira moves. Raasch, playing both villains, navigates a hoverboard while doing an impression of a certain orange-colored politician.
In “Princess is a Bitch,” Ascher performs a rap with a convincing Iggy Azalea lilt while negotiating a rather steep set of steps. Mulcahy delivers a rippin’ rap break later in “Firewall Ball.” James Creer is just a freakin’ delight anytime he sets foot on stage, playing Prince as the life of the emoji party. BrieAnne Alisa Martin and Osher Fine contribute a touching side plot about two emojis, Construction Worker and Police Officer, whose romance is ended by politics (sound familiar?). Goes, meanwhile, provides a solid, empathetic center for all this ruckus.
The vocal work under Stephen Guggenheim’s musical direction was wonderful, tackling a score that balances between pop music genres and Broadway technique. The costumes - solid primary colored outfits topped with big fake plastic wigs - gave the show a delightful cartoon feel. The projection work was dazzling, almost a show unto itself, especially as the virus mucks everything up. And Jon Gourdine’s choreography was endlessly inventive.
Through Nov. 24, 3Below Theaters, 288 S. Second Street, San Jose. $25-$75. 408/404-7711, #belowtheaters.com
Michael J. Vaughn is a 40-year critic and author of 29 novels. His latest, Punks for the Opera, is available at Amazon.com
