The Great American Trailer
Park Musical
Off-Broadway cast recording
Music and lyrics by David Nehls
Book by Betsy Kelso |
Issued 2006
Running time 0:52 - 14 tracks
Packaged with notes, synopsis, lyrics and 16 photos
Sh-K-Boom Records 7915586051-2
List Price $18.98 |
Click here to buy the CD
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Storyline: Life on "This Side of the Tracks" in Armadillo Acres, a
trailer park in North Florida, is complicated. The gals and their men have a
wide assortment of difficulties from agoraphobia to hysterical pregnancy
among the women and an excess of magic marker sniffing among the men. Things
get wildest during a nightmare television show, but the couples all resolve
their problems just in time for the finale.
Marya Grandy seems to lead off the foolishness with
her character's name - she's known as "Linoleum" because her mother gave
birth on the kitchen floor. But the story that drives the show is the
relationship between Kaitlin Hopkins, as the one unable to step outside her
trailer, and Shuler Hensley who is an absolute kick as her husband who is a toll
collector on the local toll road.
Record producer Billy Jay Stein has opted for a tight,
close-miked sound that puts you right in the middle of the performance. It
isn't the sound of sitting in a major Broadway house listening to it being
performed before an audience of a few thousand. It is more like a small bar
or club. That makes sense because the show played off-Broadway at Dodger
Stage I which seats 499. The show probably sounded just like this recording
in that hall.
The band is every bit as in-character as is each of
the cast members. This may be because composer Nehls also acts as musical
director, conductor and keyboard player. Doubling up on composing and
musical direction duties can be a recipe for all-too respectful, and
therefore dull, performances. Not so here. Apparently Nehls knows that
taking these 14 song-scenes too seriously would stifle them. He leads the
six piece combo (with two drummers, no less) in providing a sense of
momentum for each number that keeps the energy level high from start to to
finish.
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