By Manning Harris
fmanningh@gmail.com
Aurora Theatre is presenting the musical “Hands on a Hardbody,” running through May 31, based on a real-life endurance contest in Longview, Texas. Ten contestants must keep their hands on a shiny new pickup truck for hours, which become days. The one who can stand with a hand on the truck the longest wins it.
A documentary film of this event was made in 1997; filmmaker Robert Altman was developing a feature film based on the contest when he died. I would have paid money to see that.
The current production has a book by Doug Wright, lyrics by Amanda Green, and music by Trey Anastasio (of the band Phish) and Ms. Green. It is directed by Brian Clowdus, the Artistic Director of Serenbe Playhouse, choreography by Jen MacQueen, with musical direction by Ann-Carol Pence.
The show began life at San Diego’s La Jolla Playhouse in 2012 and had a brief Broadway run in 2013.
Anyone who’s seen Sydney Pollock’s 1969 film “They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?” about a marathon dance contest during the Great Depression will probably have greater empathy for what the characters in “Hardbody” are going through.
Happily, the folks in the musical are considerably more upbeat than the people in “They Shoot Horses,” but make no mistake: There is an underlying desperation in both the film and this play. It’s simply masked more easily here with the music and dancing. But times are hard and money is tight, or the contestants wouldn’t be there. It’s a “Human Drama Kind of Thing,” as the first song says.
It’s also almost impossible not to see the truck as a metaphor for life or the American dream or your piece of the pie—take your pick. This awareness, perhaps subconscious, gives the entire evening a deeper resonance. No wonder the actors are holding on, literally, for dear life to that red Nissan truck.
Speaking of the performers, it is their joy, resilience, humor, and humanity that make “Hands on a Hardbody” work. It’s a big cast, they all deserve mention, and here they are: Rob Lawhon, Matt Lewis, Randi Garza, Benjamin Davis, Ricardo Aponte, Jeremy Wood, Eric Moore, Laura Floyd, Wendy Melkonian, Jeremy Aggers, Jessica Miesel, Diany Rodriguez, Jill Hames, Steve Hudson, and Matthew Morris. If you follow Atlanta theatre at all, you will recognize many of them. The characters they play and their relationships to one another are quite complex, so see the show.
Of course there are standout moments: “Joy of the Lord,” sung with gospel fervor by Ms. Rodriguez; “Stronger,” sung by Iraq vet Chris (Mr. Wood); “I’m Gone,” sung by would-be sweethearts Kelli and Greg (Ms. Garza and Mr. Davis); “It’s a Fix,” performed with down-home fury by Ms. Hames; “If I Had This Truck,” sung by all the contestants. And there are others; as I indicated, it’s a talented cast.
One inherent problem with the play is that you can never see all the actors’ faces at the same time because they are surrounding the truck. It’s an old rule of the theatre that the actors be “open to the audience” as much as possible. Nevertheless, Director Clowdus, who often performs wizardry outdoors at Serenbe, does his best to perform the impossible. He is aided by Jen MacQueen’s choreography, which must surmount the same quandary. And at two and a half hours, the show runs a bit long.
The musicians, under Ann-Carol Pence’s direction, make this pop-rock score sound fine; and to have actor-singers of this caliber helps enormously.
The bottom line for me, however, is the humanity. These are ordinary folks, knowing the odds are against them, yet reaching for the sky. You’d be a cad not to root for them.
For tickets and information, visit auroratheatre.com.
