Enough The Musical at The Theatre Building

When people talk about the “raw talent” here in Chicago, they are not kidding. Tonight, I was witness to a “demo release” re-enactment of a new sort of “rock musical” written by two teenagers that will knock your sox off.In fact, the entire cast of recent grads from Hisdale High School is as solid as one could want from a much more mature group of actors/singers.  Kevin J. Watson II ( lyrics and co-writer of the script) and Nathan Sabo ( music and orchestrations) have spent the last three years giving birth to this wonderful little musical entitled “Enough” which I understand was recently done as a full scale production at their school. Try to imagine that as high school sophomores, they got the idea and over the following years worked to make their dream a reality. That is true grit!

What I saw tonight was a celebration of the recording that they made and a slight taste of the story ‘Enough” tells. An intricate story made up of three stories that take place in an average suburban town, until a woman is murdered by an African-American man in a post office ( talk about going postal). This brings about many changes in this sleepy town as fear and prejudice begin to take over. At the same time, three individuals also face life changing scenarios: Cole Brooks ( Watson’s powerful voice and charming stage presence make this character quite lovable) and his mother have just moved into the town. He is African-American and meets the girl of his dreams, who is White, causing some racial problems and prejudicial behaviour by the townspeople. A second happening is the new District Attorney and his wife moving into the town. The pressure of his new job changes him from loving and caring husband to a dangerous, angry man; the third event is that of the son of the murdered woman and his clash with his father who cannot handle the loss of the woman who made them a family.

All of their lives and problems come together as one during the show until they all realize that they have had “Enough”. Not seeing the entire production and not knowing the entire script makes it difficult to explain the relationships between the stories and how they mesh, but I have a feeling that very soon one of the local theater companies will take a shot and produce a full scale production of this sort of Rock Musical with some country/western charm and wonderful songs. In the “reading/singing” they performed tonight some of the characters were played by different actors in different scenes, but each of the ensemble members were delightful to listen to: Darilyn Burtley,Mike Ferraro, Meghan Kasanders,Lauren Kerbs, Lauren Patten , Christopher Puchi,Nathan Sabo , Andrew Sickel, Demi  Zaino and of course Watson , himself- Wow! They were all terrific.

Thirteen wonderful songs that all relate to the story-telling performed by four musicians made for a delightful experience. We were given a demo with four of the tracks, but there are no bad ones in this solid musical that I hope one day I will be reviewing as a full scale production. This one may be perfect for Porchlight as I can just see Walter taking ths one and Eugene making ths music as if it were his own. Congratulations to  Kevin Watson II and Nathan Sabo and I hope your college years will produce even more.