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If 50 is the new 30, then the male characters in the American Heartland Theatre’s production of Love List were in throes of mid-life crisis, again. Divorced professionals living in the same building, this odd couple functioned more like a pair of prurient frat boys than sensible grown-ups ready for meaningful relationships.    

Leon (Scott Cordes) is the unstylish, brutish writer, who, in his younger days, spent his book tours cheating on his wife. Shockingly he has his loveable side and ends up being the character that actually evolves throughout the play. Leon buys his lonely statistician friend, Bill (Sean Grennan) a dating service that requires the user to create a list of the top ten characteristics they are looking for in a mate.  The service is run by a gypsy so there is a certain amount of magic in the process, and as we expect, hijinks ensue.

Bill’s original list is crafted from the perspective of a man looking for a woman to please him. They range from the raunchy (No. 4 - Likes kinky sex) to the sweet (No. 2 - Enjoys kissing) to the mundane (No. 10 - Sense of humor).  But of course, with each requirement comes a caveat.  In the case of No. 10 - Sense of humor, Leon thinks this is a bad quality that women develop because they are lacking in some other area.  Absent are the references to looks and breast size much to Leon's horror—but Bill isn’t that shallow—or so he says.  

Bill falls asleep at his desk only to be awoken the next morning by a beautiful leggy strawberry-blonde (Shanara Gabrielle) who meets all of the requirements on the list and seems to know all about his and Leon’s life. She sweeps into Bill’s life like the girlfriend he’d always had. And since they are instantly "a couple," no relationship building is required. It’s interesting to note that she loves to cook, although this attribute never actually made “the list.” Of course, Bill is more than a little freaked out, but he likes the sex so he isn’t in any rush to change things.

There was a subtle, misogynistic undercurrent that was disturbing to this reviewer and I’m sure some of the other female audience members. Some of the laughs in the house were genuine, but some of them were just embarrassed.

Shanara Gabrielle was required to embody this “perfect woman” and morph into a hysterical female stereotype. Every entrance she made in the second half showed a different, over-the-top aspect of femininity. From her obsession with interior design and a clean house, to teetering around in 4-inch heels and a bathrobe, to her insecurity attack, and like a puppet, she shifted with each quality that the men either added to or erased from the list. It was obvious that Gabrielle is a consummate professional who was able to master the role.

Cordes and Grennan seemed above the script. They were dynamic personalities with great comedic timing. Granted, I saw the show more than half way through the run, but the insanely fast-paced dialogue led me to suspect that the actors were in a hurry to get the play over with. Hearing them banter at 100 wpm, I wondered if what they had in their highball glasses was really Red Bull and not stage scotch.

The play is an immature fantasy that could have been stronger had mystery and meaning superseded the author’s shallow interest in the shtick. Comedy is a competitive art form. Ira Glass, host of This American Life, once said that we are in a Golden Age of Television. He was referring to the high quality comedic writing that shows like 30 Rock, Modern Family, and even Glee represent.  Even edgier fare like It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, though immature and at times misogynistic, has multiple layers to their humorous subversion of the norm. There has to be better material out there for theaters like the American Heartland Theatre to choose from.  Next year, I hope they opt for a season opener that puts the love back into going out to the theater. 

REVIEW:
The American Heartland Theatre
The Love List by Norm Foster
Runs September 10 through October 24 (Reviewed October 1, 2010)
Crown Center
2450 Grand Blvd, Kansas City, MO 
For tickets call 816-842-9999 or online at www.ahtkc.com

Photos by Shane Rowse

By Megan Browne Helm

Classical, Vocal and Theatre Contributor

Megan Browne Helm grew up singing, dancing and acting.  Inspired by Emma Kirkby as a high school student in St. Louis she went on to study voice and sing with the Collegium Musicum at the Oberlin Conservatory in Ohio where she also had a radio show of contemporary classical music on WOBC.  At the University of Kansas she had the pleasure of working with former Kings’ Singer, Simon Carrington in his Collegium Musicum and Oread consort. Years later, she was a choral fellow at the Yale School of Music’s  Norfolk Chamber Music Festival.  She is currently singing with the Kansas City Symphony Chorus under the direction of Charles Bruffy. 

 As a freelance music and culture writer her work can be found on KCMetropolis.org, presentmagazine.com, the Lawrence Journal World, Shawnee Magazine, Leawood Lifestyle Magazine and KC Parent.  She was one of 26 journalists in the country chosen as a NEA Institute Fellow for Classical Music and Opera at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. 

Her current interest is how classical music remains relevant through active collaborations with artists in different fields, including science.  She also sees a connection between classical music, travel and food as a way to engage all of the senses in a 360 degree cultural experience.  She blogs at raworganum.wordpress.com.