ASU Music Theatre and Opera's RUNAWAYS is a Visual and Aural Feast

by Gil Benbrook

Joseph Papp and the Public Theater in NY exploded on the commercial musical scene with two hugely successful shows that first opened downtown at the Public before moving to long running, award winning runs on Broadway. Those two shows, Hair and A Chorus Line, also broke the traditional Broadway musical mold in that Hair was more a collection of stories and songs, and not a standard plot driven show, that formed a cohesive whole, and A Chorus Line used a series of workshops and interviews with Broadway dancers to form the basis for the show as it told their personal stories.

Elizabeth Swadows, who had supplied incidental music to a few shows and also wrote the song cycle Nightclub Cantata, approached Papp with the idea of a show that combined elements of both Hair and A Chorus Line.  Runaways, which Swadows wrote, directed and choreographed in its original production, is a musical collage that combines poetry, monologues, music and dance to tell the stories of over a dozen young adults who have run away from home and end up living on the streets. The characters and stories came from conversations Swados had with real-life runaways in the late 1970s and after opening at the Public Theatre downtown the show moved to Broadway in 1978 where it ran for 7 months.

ASU Music Theatre and Opera presents a mesmerizing filmed production of this rarely seen musical with a large cast of students who bring a rich passion to the material as well as an abundance of compassion to their characters.

Swadows weaves  a series of 40 songs and stories that touch upon abusive parents, working as a child prostitute, the need to run away and the desire to just be a kid, to provide an in-depth look into the inner feelings of these teens and young adults.  Swadows' score mixes elements of pop and rock with varied other styles, including folk and salsa to form a soundscape that echoes the stories and characters in the piece.  

Director Toby Yatso successfully takes what appears to be hundreds of different video pieces to form a visual feast that works incredibly well as a filmed version of the show, with scenes shot at multiple locations around town that expand the realm and world of the stories being told. Hannah Victoria Thomas' choreography is varied, simple and joyous. Music director Mario Yniguez and the nine piece orchestra deliver an incredibly rich sound. Tiana Torrilhon's scenic design and Kristen Peterson's lighting create an immersive world and Maci Hosler's costumes and Sharon Jones' hair and makeup allow each character to be unique.

The large cast all get a moment or two to shine. Some highlights include: Daniel Bargen's impassioned monologue "Out on the Streets," which dives into the seedy side of living on the street and Brianna McClure, with cotton candy hair, shows us the practical side of selling yourself in “Song of a Child Prostitute” where she says that "sex is a business, like kitchenware." Elise Daniells delivers the heartfelt monologues "We Have to Die?" and “To the Dead of Family Wars,” and Hannah Brudnock lets us see the passionate, no-nonsense graffiti artist she is. Xingyu Wang delivers a monologue infused with desperation, "I Had to Go." Chris Elliot leads the fun “The Basketball Song” and the moving monologue "Spoons." Frenki Hykollari and Thomas Smith make for quite provocative storytellers in "Footsteps" and "Current Events," respectively. Taryn Landis' "Goodnight Mommy" is quite moving. "I Went Back Home" feaures McKaylee Todd and Liuyi Jiang in an engrossing story about what one does to get their parents attention. 

There are also some moments that depict the range of non-English speaking individuals living on the streets, that feature Jasmine Rodriguez, Bruno Streck Rodrigues and Jiang, and Gregory Oxley is featured in a few spots, with the use of ASL, to depict the non-hearing runaway. Evening Calabrese' gorgeous voice leads "Sometimes" and Anna Sera provides lovely vocals, as does all of the cast, in the many ensemble songs that feature an abundance of solos and lovely harmonies. 

The show does include a few pops of humor that feature Landis, Wesley Bradstreet, who is bitingly funny when he says the show needs to be more upbeat, "It's too gloomy. It's too savage," and Swados even pokes fun in the upbeat tune, “Where Are Those People Who Did Hair." 

But what you'll remember most about Runaways is the youthful optimism underneath the cynicism and pain of these runaways and that what this group of young people wants most is to "Let Me Be a Kid" and that they are just looking for a place to be safe.

ASU's production is a beautiful creation. 

Please note that this production adhered to all federal, state, local and university guidelines for safety and physical distancing. University COVID-19 information may be found at https://eoss.asu.edu/health/announcements/coronavirus.

CLICK HERE for more information on Runaways, which streams through March 14