Those Nifty Fifties

I saw a fun—and more than a little scary—show last night at Musicalfare.  Off the bat, let’s get this on the table:  I am not the target audience for this show.  Not yet, at least.  But as a member of a sub-culture of young folks who some have claimed is suffering a supposed “quarter-life crisis,” I am not merely on the cusp of my own midlife crisis but on the horizon of the next stage of my life as a 26-year-old.  So I get the idea of looking back and looking around and wondering, “What’s going on here?  Why am I not who I thought I was going to be?  When did my life happen?”

Alright, so I sense the themes of this show in a very different way than much of the audience last night.  That doesn’t mean I didn’t get the point, or didn’t find it entertaining at times.  “Mid-Life! The Crisis Musical” is an evening of vignettes and musical numbers that illustrate the apparently hilarious and unexpected symptoms of being of a certain age—weak kneecaps, inability to remember your last name, severe changes in internal body temperature, temporary loss of sanity, and by all accounts, laughs and tears.  I guess.....I mean, is this what it’s really like?  Can I look forward to my body turning itself off on a whim (or on, in the instance of the lady who laughed herself into a puddle in the middle of a store), or finding yourself lost in despair to the point of uncharacteristic infidelity and stereotypically spontaneous convertible purchases.

I mean, I guess that’s the joke for those who are going through their midlife:  You’re old, you’re saggy, you’re not as sprite as spirited as you once were, but you have more disposable income so why not buy a car just because you can?  I think, like many people my age—meaning, not in the mid of my life, I hope to God—that the joke just isn’t as funny anymore.  Our parents are getting older (we all are, right?) but they do not resemble the sirs and ma’ams that we recognized in our youth.  They are not the inactive, sad pathetic bags of gas that greeting cards and prune commercials would have us believe.  They are merely older, wiser and perhaps heavier-in-the-wallet versions of what we grew up to know them as.

Of course, perspective changes with time and age.  When I think about the way the senior class of my high school looked when I was a feeble freshman, they seemed like grown adults with better bodies and an actual sense of purpose than my fellow 9th-graders.  When I look at high school seniors today, some eight years my junior, they look like four-year-olds who scream and complain and bitch and insist that they are the adults their parents refuse to acknowledge as such.  When I was a senior, I certainly didn’t see myself as either of those character types.  It’s just the perspective you have at that given moment.

And at this given moment, I do not look forward to the midlife that these people suggest will happen to me.  I can appreciate a good gag, a snappy punch line, a serious moment of reflection and all of those other requisite components of musical theater.  But did I read this show as a cautionary tale?  No.  Should I be expected to understand why weak bladders and fierce mammograms are inherently painfully comedic?  No.  But do I get that I probably won’t for another couple decades?  Yes.  And in that vein—varicose or otherwise....thank you, I’m here all week—why should I worry about it now anyway?  By the time I get to my midlife—or that decade or so of transition that society dictates will happen when I start watching “Matlock” reruns or purchase Metamucil, whichever comes first—I can only hope that it involves a few production numbers.

In any case, see “Mid-Life! The Crisis Musical” if you want an entertaining night out, some unexpected laughs at the hand of a seriously talented cast of performers, and a little thoughtful reflection with your dose of pain pills.  It’s never too late to be old, I guess the show is telling me.  That’s not all that sad.  It’s just honest.  Just be old with purpose and not another cliched image of old, and you’re already ahead of the rest of them.

For tickets and more information about “Mid-Life! The Crisis Musical,” visit MusicalFare Theatre online.

Photo courtesy this guy.

Posted by on 07/17 at 10:58 AM