Youngblood Theater, a relative newcomer to Milwaukee’s theater scene, makes a strong impression with Steve Yockey’s Cartoon. Eight actors create life within ToonTown, which is ruled by a girl with a great big hammer. The girl (Lindsay Gagliano) is dressed like Shirley Temple (with cleavage), but acts very much like the bureaucrats in George Orwell’s novel, “1984.” She rules a world of moving, talking toys. However, this is not “Babes in Toyland.” Some of these toys/characters carry guns and know how to use them. Cartoonis definitely not a show for the kiddies.
As in a real cartoon, scenes in Cartoon are very brief. Also, there is a fair amount of repetition (what children crave in real TV cartoons). A backstage screen projects numerous images during the performance. Some of these include scenes from a World War II-era Disney cartoon in which Donald Duck is put to work in a German munitions factory.
The show is also partly interactive, as characters sometimes address the audience directly. In a few cases, the actors lightly touch the audience’s shoulders. This is easy to do, since the audience sits in rows of folding chairs placed in front of the stage.
The toys’ “perfect world” is thrown into chaos when a character named Trouble (Jason Waszak) nimbly steals the girl’s hammer while she sleeps. When she awakes, she commands the toys/characters to find the missing hammer. This throws the characters into a tailspin, since this demand is such a departure from their normal routine. Trouble (the character) reappears several times during the “search” sequence. He shouts brief messages about freedom and justice. Meanwhile, some characters kill each other as they try to cope in this strange situation. Freedom is not for everyone, it seems.
Director Michael Cotey, who is also Youngblood’s artistic director, is assisted here by a clever production team. Together, they take a high-ceilinged warehouse and make it a decent, no-frills theater space. The temporarily installed sound and lighting elements are impressive. For instance, when Gagliano (as the girl) sings a lovely version of “Lili Marleen” (a famous World War II love song), her voice fills the theater. (This is one unexpected moment among many. The way she is dressed, one expects Gagliano to belt out “On the Good Ship Lollipop.”) Credit also goes to Eleanor Cotey for her inventive costumes.
The other actors deliver impressive performances as well, particularly Andrew Edwin Voss as Rockstar and Jordan Gwiazdowski as a puppet named Winston. Two petite young women (Alexandra Bonesho, Sydney Mei Ruf-Wong) are dressed almost identically as anime figures. Their valley girl-speak undoubtedly resonates with the audience’s younger members, and these “BFF’s” are particularly fun to watch.
Youngblood Theater, now in its fourth season, is nomadic by nature. It doesn’t have a permanent performing space, so one must seek out its offerings. Yet the payoff is worth the search. Their mission is designed to attract “young professionals” into the world of theater. Cartoon’s revolutionary theme is definitely on the mark to reach this goal, and the actors do a good job of presenting the show’s message to Milwaukee theatergoers.
