You, or Whatever I Can Get

Dating is fun. Wait, did I say fun? I meant horrible. Dating is horrible. One would think our hyper-information-digital-social age would soften the blow – or at least weed out the crazies – but the truth remains: While previous generations settled down faster and younger, Generation Y remains on their own unique domestic timeline. However discouraging or stressful this journey can be, You, Or Whatever I Can Get turns the trek into one of the funniest, truest, and downright outrageous new musicals I’ve seen in ages.

You, or takes us into the world of four roommates in their late twenties/early thirties, looking for comfort. Or sex. Or, well, whatever they can get. Victoria (Suzanne Edgar) is a lovable yuppie, in relationship with a man who may or may not be the one she’s been waiting for. Her roommate, Jen, (Farrell Parker) is content to date around, using various men to pass the hours, while sensitive and earnest Phil (Vaughn Irving) has just been dumped by his longtime girlfriend, and is struggling to make sense of his future.

Free-loader Dennis (Doug Wilder) is, well, there are not enough words to describe this bombastic slacker, band Wilder manages to keep the audience in constant stitches.

When relationships change and confusion arises, the friends do their best to hold their alcohol, and keep it together.

With a hyper-talented three piece rock band behind them (Steve Przybylski, Jason Wilson, Alex Aucoin), the musical makes the most of a small space, turning the thrust stage from living room, to bedroom, to party, and back again. This set-up provides a kind of intimacy with the audience, as though they’re totally in on the joke, and the heartbreak.

The music (Vaughan Irving and Steve Pryzybylski) is equal parts pop, contemporary musical theatre, and rock, with the hummability to keep the tunes stuck in one’s head hours after curtain. Both musically memorable and lyrically insightful (“You don’t have to be all better, you just have to live life better,” mutters Dennis), it reaches a kind of generational truth many young artists are not yet capable of telling.

And it’s funny. Really, really funny. Directed by Jason Schlafstein, this cast has a sure and steady connection rivaling the most talented of improv troups. The gang will keep you largely entertained, and often moved.

Millennials, a hot-button and often-debated word, are a lot of things. Some of their problems are new, some of them are ageless, but at the end of the day they want the basics – love, acceptance, and someone who just freaking gets them.

I got this show and want to see it again.

Take me to the DCTS 2014 Capital Fringe Guide