Across a Crowded Room (5/30/26)

A brief reminder—Across a Crowded Room is a program sponsored by the Lincoln Center Library for the Performing Arts, a venue near and dear to my heart. Composers, book writers, and lyricists meet in a room, decide who they’d like to work with, and then create a 20-minute musical. It may be self-contained, or it may be the germ of what they hope will be a larger creation. At any rate, this performance was the output of that program. I saw/heard seven 20-minute performances. There was also feedback from two industry professionals after each presentation. Let the fun begin! 

Patricia’s Seven Houses was about Patricia (duh!) who had seven rental properties on a cul de sac. Everyone had problems. Patricia interacted with a couple of renters while also being on hold with the dreaded ‘help’ line of the group that managed the properties. This was very funny. It was more of a play with music than a musical, but I didn’t have a problem with that. 

Zelda (after a tech glitch, an offstage phone call that never arrived) had three versions of the same character. All of them were involved with climate control/change, just different concerns at different times in Zelda’s life. The music and lyrics were good, but it was a little unclear whether all three versions of Zelda actually realized that they were all dealing with all three versions of Zelda at the same time. Still, it was compelling. 

Prison Fan Club (Working Title) was another compelling story. I also liked the music and lyrics. For 20 minutes, it was pretty much fully formed. 

A Most Immoral Woman was the most advanced of the seven works that I saw and heard. There was a set! There were costumes! Everyone was off book! The story revolved around a beauty pageant contestant who was unfortunately incapacitated. Fortunately, her twin sister was available to replace her. Both girls were being mentored by a former beauty pageant participant who had a fix in with the judges. The crux of the story came down to the final contestant’s question. Would the imposter go with the fix or go with her own conviction? I’m not telling. Oh, and this cast also took a bow. (Note to all performers—always take a bow. We, the audience, need to know that you appreciate us appreciating you.) 

The Subway: A Musical Play in Five Memories was also a lot of fun. The setting was 1923 NYC. The actors used their bodies as sound effects (thumping their chests and screeching to imitate the sounds of the subway). It was most effective. This one also had good harmonies, and I'm a big fan of harmony. The five memories got sort of mish-mashed, but it all worked out in the end.

Enemies to Lovers was an interesting spinoff/satire (really, a character named Blake Storm?) that had fun humor but possibly too many vignettes. It was definitely a work in progress. It also had a duet that, alas, had no harmony. As with all of the works, it was enjoyable, just not one of my favorites. 

My Husband’s First Wife was intriguing. And I mean that in a good way. It opened with a female trio singing close harmony, which was a great touch. I pegged it as ’30s. I was close—the setting was 1928. It turns out that Ethel thinks she is Eugene’s second wife. It turns out that Ethel is visited (via a séance) by four of Eugene’s former wives. It turns out that Eugene poisoned all of them with an apple tart. It turns out that when Eugene is returning home, Ethel is preparing an apple tart ... 
It’s not quite Sweeney Todd, but it was very funny nonetheless. 

A note about the industry professionals—they provided great feedback to all seven groups. For one (and I forget which) they really liked the short story quality of the piece and suggested writing two more short story–esque works and then combining them into one larger work. As Arte Johnson would say, "Ver-r-ry inter-es-ting!"

Will I be attending the next Across a Crowded Room performances? You betcha!

ConcertMeister