Despite taking place in a middle school, “The Milford Project” is far from torture.
LAB! Theatre’s latest presentation has components that could easily make for a nauseating two hours. It’s about a socially awkward science nerd.
In middle school.
And he sings.
Fortunately, this musical uses all of those elements to their full comic effect. Although some moments drag, hilarious performances make the play an overall enjoyable experience.
“Milford” tells the story of Richie, a thirteen-year-old science prodigy, whose hobby — atomic research — attracts the attention of the U.S. Government. Apparently unaware of grown-up physicists like Robert Oppenheimer and Albert Einstein, the government asks Richie to help develop the United States’ first nuclear weapon. This causes Richie to neglect his science fair project, lie to his loved ones and put the entire country of Latvia at risk.
To play thirteen-year-olds, the actors adopted cartoon-character voices, to varying degrees of success.
For the most part, Bryan Burton plays Richie flawlessly. His strength is physical comedy — one of the best moments of the first act is a failed hug between him and his father, who loves science far more than his son. Burton’s head flops awkwardly into his father’s chest, and his hands stray way too low, turning what initially is a dragged-out attempt at physical comedy into something actually funny.
Burton’s weakness is his voice, or rather his accent. Although the play takes place in Iowa, Burton inexplicably speaks like he’s from Brooklyn, which can be distracting.
Conversely, Margaret Burris is pitch-perfect as Richie’s love interest, Penny. She impressively maintains a high-pitched voice that must require a large lung capacity, which she shows off in all of her musical numbers. Despite the purposefully cloying falsetto she speaks with as Penny, Burris’ singing voice is beautiful. She looks a lot like Amy Poehler, and has her knack for comedy, too — some of the funniest moments of the play involve Penny’s enthusiastic endorsements of Des Moines.
Perhaps the best performance among the middle school students is from a secondary character. As Richie’s best friend, Todd Lewis is adorable. His nasal voice is never annoying. At best, it’s hilarious. At worst, it’s heartbreaking, like when he bemoans his lack of a best friend after Richie neglects him for science and Penny. You can hardly blame him for giving Nazi spies the plans to start their nuclear arsenal — he’s just so darn cute.
The funniest performances overall come from the adults. Matt Jacques speaks in the perfect, baritone bark as war-loving government agent Upham. He delivers some of the best lines of “Milford” with just the right amount of patriotism and pomp.
Similarly, Scott Vicari and Cameron Nadler are excellent archetypal foreign spies. They adroitly sneak out of file cabinets and play off of each other as “Good Nazi, Bad Nazi” in ways that would feel at home in an Austin Power’s movie.
The witty dialogue and its excellent delivery are the foundation of “Milford.” Although some physical comedy is on par with the words and lyrics, some of it drags. At one point, all of the characters spend more than a minute looking at a piece of bread, waiting for it to mold. It felt like the audience only laughed to spur the actors back into action. At more than two and a half hours (with intermission), such minute-long sketches are excessive.
Despite it’s length — and Richie’s dropped ‘r’s,’ — “The Milford Project” is pleasant entertainment, especially considering a premise rife with potential annoyances.
Four out of five stars.
Staff writer Grace Tatter saw “The Milford Project” on Thursday, Feb. 23 at 8 p.m. The performance runs through Monday in Kenan Theatre. See LAB!‘s website for information.
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