Evan Cabnet, the director of White Horse Theatre Company's world premiere musical "Keep Ishmael," had this to say about Mat Smart, who wrote the book. "As a writer, Mat refuses to be defined by genre." Mr. Cabnet, it seems, has never watched a sitcom with a wacky dream sequence. Imagine an episode of prime-time stalwart "That 70's Show" in which the kids read Moby Dick, smoke up, and have a massive Melville-fueled hallucination. Add a lot of songs, subtract some laughs, and you'll have "Keep Ishmael."
The show is not entirely devoid of merit. The opening number, "Frames," was downright promising. Composer Ethan Deppe's music has a driving rhythmic force. In "Frames," his work gives excitement and urgency to Smart's clever lyrics about listless suburban postgrads. ("Words," the other stand-out song, is a post-mortem on a failed relationship, full of evocative harmonies and tensions.) During "Frames," I strained to hear the singers over the band. By the end of the first act, I wasn't sure the show was worth the strain.
"Keep Ishmael" is supposed to be a comic gloss on "Moby Dick." It's the kind of update that involves replacing first mate Starbuck with a fanatical Starbucks Coffee manager (nicknamed Starbuck, naturally) and noble savage Queequeg with a foxy, biracial love interest named Q. Of course, they are obliged to drive around in a Ford Pequod.
Worst of all, Captain Ahab becomes A-Train, a twitchy young man with a grudge against Sea World's Shamu, who he somehow believes has stolen his girlfriend. When A-Train (Jonathan Wagner, manfully channeling Jack Black), highjacks the car in a bid to kill the beloved Shamu, the show takes a nose-dive into flabby, indulgent nonsense and never comes up for air. "Keep Ishmael" has some production problems. The cast, while game and attractive, is a little weak of voice. Cabnet is clueless when it comes to staging an action sequence. And no one involved in the show has any idea of how microphones work. But all of these are trivialities compared to Smart's book, which is less riddled with problems than a problem in and of itself. There isn't a single character or plot element in the last two-thirds of the show with a solid excuse for existing. They're just there to name-check "Moby Dick." Melville's beast was both a whale and a symbol, an emotional force and a big honking mammal. Smart's Shamu, by contrast, is both a trite reference and a bad joke.
"Keep Ishmael" runs through September 16; 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday; 3 pm Sunday. Theatre Building Chicago, 1225 W. Belmont, 773-327-5252, $20.
Reviewed by Centerstage!
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