ASPHYXIATING

Neither the excellent quartet playing quality pieces that are at times rousing, nor Karl Ruckdeschel’s lovely period costumes, are enough to make Solitary Light, with music and lyrics by Randy Sharp and Paul Carbonara, a tolerable experience. With an artless libretto that is sentimental and always on-the-nose, the lack of a meaningful, or even a coherent, plot, the absence of characters and drama, choreography that has performers rushing aimlessly around the stage like startled chickens, and Mr. Sharp’s helpless direction, the best thing about this 80-minute musical, which concerns itself with the tragic Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911, is that it’s not longer.

Musicians: Paul Carbonara, guitar; Andy Burton, piano; Hajnal Kármán Pivnick, violin; Samuel Quiggins, cello.

Cast: Spencer Aste, Shira Averbuch, Mara Beier, Dewey Caddell, George Demas, Emily Kratter, Lynn Mancinelli, Stephanie Regina, Jared Young.

photo by Dixie Sheridan

Solitary Light
Axis Theatre Company
presented as part of the second annual Theater:Village festival
Axis Theatre, One Sheridan Square
scheduled to end on October 4, 2014
for tickets, call (212) 807-9300 or www.axiscompany.org/