Underscore Theatre Company is in the midst of their second annual Chicago Musical Theatre Festival at The Den Theatre where it is host to thirteen brand new musicals submitted by a slew of local theatre companies. Though some musicals presented come from theatre companies more polished than others, the event is a fantastic passage for the development of new, creative theatre productions in the Chicago area. A handful of submitted plays are production-ready while some are completed works. Some of the theatre companies involved include the New American Folk Theatre (“Dirty Girl”), American Demigods (“Fanatical”), Duplicity Ensemble (“Marble, GA”).

Day two of the Chicago Musical Theatre Festival introduced “One Thousand Words”, a musical with the book and lyrics by Michael Braud and music by Curran Latas. When a reporter, Richard Hanks, is assigned to write a thousand words about two men in love during World War II, he is at first disappointed because he’d rather be in Pakistan covering the current tension in the area. After his editor dangles a carrot in front of the horse-drawn carriage by semi-promising she would send him on the overseas assignment once he successfully handles the task at hand, Hanks decides to write the story of the year and delves into the lives of these two men whose story comes from an intimate photo of the two while in World War II. After tracking down Warren, now eighty-years-old, he is taken back to the 1940s where he hears the story of two men who hid their love for each other before, during and after wartime and the circumstances and obstacles that they had to face. Hanks becomes transfixed by Warren’s story and possibly affected much more than he expected.

The story is simple enough. It flows well without confusion and the dialogue is fairly engaging. Its songs are not likely to be remembered afterwards for their melody though they did strengthen certain points in the show by capturing the appropriate tone of the moment despite singing that is best described as hit or miss. The set is as minimalistic as they come furnished with only a couple crates, leaving much to the imagination, as the space it used for each and every production in the festival and requires a quick turnaround.  

Joe Hornberger does give a strong performance as “Warren” and is one of the better singers in the cast, while Justin Stevens pairs up with him nicely as “Daniel”, his lover. At first one might think the two a bit miscast and unlikely as lovers, but the pair begins to make more and more sense as the story progresses and become quite believable. One needs to keep in mind that thirteen musicals are sharing the same space for multiple performances in a few weeks’ time, so there might be missed spotlight marks, minor production tweaking per show and somewhat barren sets. The main purpose is for Chicagoans to experience and support local theatre in development and hopefully be entertained while doing so. One Thousand Words contains enough positives to keep it interesting.   

One Thousand Words can be seen at The Den Theatre:                                    

Tuesday, July 07, 2015 9:30 PM
Saturday, July 11, 2015 2:00 PM
Thursday, July 16, 2015 8:00 PM
Saturday, July 18, 2015 5:30 PM

For more information on the Chicago Musical Theatre Festival, visit www.cmtf.org.