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Pete Bakely’s Jet Propulsion, showing at the Unicorn Theatre as part of the Kansas City Fringe Festival, has a great concept and astounding story in the main character Jack Parsons, one of the forgotten—or, in his case, shunned, marginalized, and intentionally deleted—founders of the American space program. Parsons was a silver-spoon scientific genius who also happened to be a mystic pagan magician and possible associate of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard.

Building on that premise, Jet Propulsion sets up the four-character play as a vaudeville production, complete with minstrels, puppetry, and dancing. Parsons, played by Matt Leonard, is predictably situated as the straight man to the shenanigans and chicanery of British mage Aleister Crowley (Jeremy Lillig) and L. Ron Hubbard (Ryan Neal). Actress Virginia Hubbard (sadly, no relation) played multiple roles, though her most important is Cameron, who may or may not be the Whore of Babylon and bringer of the Moonchild. Thankfully, Bakely’s writing doesn’t dwell or get bogged down in the metaphysical or technical. He may be a little free-wheeling with the history, but it is evident that the subject matter is remarkably well researched.

Leonard was a strong lead and took on the difficult task of making a frequently raving genius sympathetic. He mostly succeeded during his solo moments. Neal, as Hubbard, couldn’t match Leonard. Portraying L. Ron Hubbard as a Willy Wonka-esque ringleader, he simply lacked the charisma, charm, comedic timing, and smarminess required of the role. Lillig, as the money-grubbing magician Aleister Crowley, was very funny in his faux-Egyptian headwear and caftan costume, and delivered some of the best one-liners of the show. Virginia Hubbard was able to make each of her characters distinguishable through body language and slight vocal changes, but her main role of Cameron was stiff. I couldn’t tell whether she was going for otherworldly, ethereal disconnection or fear of Parsons’ frenzied rants.

As an in-progress play, the show is rough around the edges but has great potential, due in part to the bizarre subject matter and leading man Leonard. The strongest writing is in Parson’s soliloquies and the shady dealings of Crowley. The vaudeville premise never goes far enough, and Bakely should consider working with a songwriter to flush out L. Ron Hubbard’s songs. Solidifying Crowley as a ventriloquist can be furthered by more instances of him using Parsons as a mouthpiece.  Better costuming throughout and sturdier props would also greatly help the production. With a few more working iterations of the play, Bakely could have a show that truly harnesses the “power of earth and glory of demons.”

REVIEW:
Kansas City Fringe Festival
Jet Propulsion
July 22–29, 2011 (Reviewed Monday, July 25, 2011)
Unicorn Theatre, Jerome Stage
3828 Main St., Kansas City, MO
For more information, visit www.kcfringe.org

Top Photo: Cast of Jet Propulsion (Photo by Pete Bakely)

By Lee Hartman

Editor-in-Chief; Traditional and New Classical Contributor

Lee Hartman holds degrees from the University of Missouri-Kansas City (D.M.A., M.M.) and the University of Delaware (B.M.). At the University of Delaware, he received a Dean's Scholar position enabling him to pursue an individually designed academic program combining music education and composition. At the University of Missouri-Kansas City he served for three years as the Assistant Director to Musica Nova, the conservatory's new music ensemble, while teaching a variety of composition classes.

In 2007 he was invited to both the Iceland Academy of the Arts in Reykjavík, Iceland and the Sichuan Conservatory in Chengdu, China to give lectures and master classes in composition. In the summer of 2009, Hartman served as an orchestra manager for the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble and Aspen Opera Theater Center for various performances. He serves on the National Executive Committee of the Society of Composers, Inc. as Submissions Coordinator. His primary composition instructors include James Mobberley, Chen Yi, Zhou Long, Paul Rudy, John Beall, and Jennifer Margaret Barker. He currently teaches music theory at the University of Central Missouri and general music classes at Park University having previously taught at UD (2007–08) and UMKC (2006–07).

His compositions can be found at http://www.leehartmanmusic.com

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