L-R, Aimee Horwich, Oliver Yank, Laura Coard and Matt Concannon in Ordinary Days at the Kings Arms, Salford
Ordinary Days continues at the Kings Arms, Salford until 21 June.
The Kings Arms follows up its spring revival of The Last Five Years with another thematically and sonically similar song cycle about young New Yorkers struggling to make sense of their lives in the city that never sleeps. This time around it is Ordinary Days, composer/lyricist Adam Gwon’s mildly diverting musing on love, loss and reconnection that premiered at London’s Finborough Theatre in 2008 before being revived to great acclaim Off-Broadway the following year.
This production from new company Top Note Arts, directed by Leah Fogo, isn’t exactly lavish, with the bare stagings revealing its Kickstarter-aided origins. But in the Kings Arms’ intimate setting this just means that the performances of the four-strong cast are deservedly put front and centre.
Of the quartet, it is Laura Coard that impresses most – possibly because, in the case of the pithy ‘I’m Trying’ and the heart-breaking ‘I’ll Be There’, she performs the closest the production gets to some standout songs. Coard convinces as Claire, a women freaked out by the speed in which her relationship is progressing, but tenor Matthew Concannon certainly matches her vocally as her smitten boyfriend Jason.
Aimee Horwich and Oliver Yank make a cute platonic couple as, respectively, stressed out grad student Deb and struggling artist Warren, who strike up a friendship after Warren serendipitously discovers Deb’s lost notebook, and whose paths tangentially cross with the other characters one afternoon at New York’s Metropolitan Museum. Musical director Scott Stait provides accompaniment on piano.
Ultimately, Gwon’s loosely connected vignettes about finding friendship in the big city, losing and then finding yourself, growing apart and then being forced back together again, don’t add up to much dramatically. The impression it leaves is of a musical in search of a book. Shorn of any narrative linking scenes, it often feels more like a snapshot of the characters’ lives rather than a cohesive whole. But while Gwon’s songs aren’t nearly memorable enough to make this qualify as a modern musical classic, his characters certainly get under your skin, while a visually impressive, climactic coup de theatre involving a cascade of coloured notelets helps draw the story threads together just enough to deliver a satisfying, almost cinematic, ending.
Chris Bartlett
Readers may also be interested in:
The Last Five Years – Kings Arms, Salford – Review
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