"Midwestern Gothic"

As to "Midwestern Gothic" at Signature Theatre tonight, what can be said? It was commissioned by Signature Theatre and this is its world premiere. It felt like as much an oddly scored opera as it did a musical. It employed some of the best talent the local theater scene as to offer if being nominated for and then winning Helen Hayes Awards is any standard. And it can easily be summed up in a single expression: "That was some weird ass shit!"

It purports to explore through the mindset of a teenaged-psychopathic-girl-serial-killer the complex psyche of the Midwesterner in America. Honestly, that's just bullshit. It's about lust, and revenge, with a teensy weensy nod to forgiveness, and there's nothing uniquely Midwestern about any of that. The voices and performances are wonderful, most especially that of Morgan Keene, the psychopath herself. She truly was amazing. Fans of the Cohn Brothers would eat this one up!

Stina (Morgan Keene) surrounded by the four member male chorus: Rodney (Evan Casey), Evodio (JP Sisneros), DJ (Chris Sizemore) and Brett (Stephen Gregory Smith)

Red (Timothy J. Alex) with his precocious serial-killing step-daughter, Stina (Morgan Keene)

Red with Sheriff Dwayne (Bobby Smith)

Red and Dwayne question Anderson (Sam Ludwig) the suspicious farm hand

Deb (Sherri L. Edelen), Red's wife confronts him at the bar where she works

Red and his failed liaison, LuAnn (Rachel Zampelli)

Red and Stina decide to run away together

Stina changes her mind....