A musical centering on the deadly 2016 Pulse Nightclub massacre in Orlando, Florida? Well, anything can serve as the basis of a tuner including such unusual examples as the travels of the mummified corpse of a minor train robber (Dead Outlaw), the women’s suffrage movement (Suffs) or the bloodthirsty killing spree of a certain demon barber and his cannibalistic accomplice (I shouldn’t have to give the title, but here goes, Sweeney Todd). It’s a matter of presenting the material in a new and exciting manner as the three named examples did. Despite having its heart in the right place, Donald Rupe’s From Here, presented by Orlando’s Renaissance Theater Company at the Signature Theater Center, is a collection of musical and emotional cliches. There are some moving moments, but they are saved for the last portion of the evening and fail to balance a bland beginning and middle.
Rupe, co-founder and producer of the company as well as author of the book, music and lyrics and director of the show, offers little new or affecting about the horrific attack on the gay club. In fact, none of the characters were at Pulse at the time of the shooting or even know any of the victims or survivors except casually. We don’t really get to know the onstage characters or care about them. They come across as generic and non-specific. They’re all friends, hang out at Pulse regularly, and are naturally devastated by the shooting, but are not developed much beyond that.
The majority of the plot involves narrator Daniel (an earnest Blake Aburn), a single gay man embarking on a new romance after a break-up. But Daniel’s main conflict is with his mother for whom he leaves daily musical voicemails which she refuses to answer. Evidently, the mother Becca (compassionate Becca Southworth) has difficulty accepting her son’s sexuality even though she enthusiastically attends the gay-friendly cabaret performance of Daniel’s best friend Jordan (a lively Michelle Coben) and says she loves “Will and Grace.”
None of Daniel’s dilemmas are particularly urgent. He remains on good terms with his ex (attractive Julien Aponte). His new boyfriend (appealing Omar Cardona) doesn’t seem too clingy or weird. His community of friends are accepting and supportive, even if their main recreation is getting drunk on Game Night at Pulse. After about an hour of Daniel’s woes, the shooting takes place (off stage) and the gang gathers at Daniel’s place for a group therapy session and a series of ballads about community.
The cast is game and heartfelt. Aburn displays a dry wit and easy charm, navigating through the Hallmark-card sentiments of his long monologues to the audience (he even awkwardly explains the title and several jokes which fail to land) and singing with verve. Southworth makes a credible mother, though Rupe’s motivations for her alienation from her son are not particularly strong. Cardona soars above the material with an impassioned rendition of a song about the death of his mother in Puerto Rico. Cohen has the most fun with a bouncy comedy turn about her love of gay men (though the lyrics are bit forced—“homos” rhyming with “chromosomos”).
Rupe’s staging is mostly adequately paced but there are few too many long pauses for supposed dramatic effect. The songs are sweet, finely orchestrated by Jason M. Bailey but not especially memorable. From Here has a perfectly fine message—community is important and mass shootings are tragic—but fails to makes its points in a new or vital way.
