Reviewed by Chris Cassone
February 16, 2025
Something in me says we all have a musical memoir inside of us, waiting to emerge. This gives me a feeling of understanding before the play has even started. We are all cave dwellers telling our story around the campfire of battling the woolly mammoth.
Unconditional is one of those hauntingly familiar pieces of art where the artist seems to be talking just to you. To say it is a story of grief transmuted is simply not enough. Playwright Margot Rose's tragic-comic story of a lesbian family in the Valley and their horrific loss was familiar. I got to know her and her twins and her house on Hesby Street. I could hear the trains travel near Chandler. I understood the emotional tug-of-war that takes place around the great American institution of divorce. "Our kids were pulled like taffy," she hopelessly offered.
And while I never lost a child to a violent car crash, Rose's vulnerability was infectious enough to have me tap into my own loss, just deep enough to identify with hers.
Loss is a common denominator in the Los Angeles area lately. 18,000 homes. 29 lives. 200,000 evacuations. Wrap your head around these numbers as that loss is now part of our city's DNA. Accordingly, there were five fire families invited to opening night. These victims along with Rose stumbled through the Kübler-Ross seven stages of grief (shock, denial, anger, bargaining, guilt, depression and, finally, acceptance.) In the process of travel through the stages, we each identify with her loss. She laid it all out in a most vulnerable way - by wrapping it in joy. Rose has a sense of joy about her memories that are lost. She has a wonderful sense of joy about her Boomer life that bloomed in the Summer of Love, most acutely around Joni Mitchell. With wisps of "The Circle Game" and "Both Sides Now" escaping from the orchestra, she made the point well.
Yes, the orchestra. To call it a "band" would do it injustice. Only five members that surrounded Rose in a semi-circle, they sounded like much more. Led by musical director and arranger Aaron Benham, the five were infused into the show even as sound effectors and, at times, a Greek Chorus.
Highlighting the mix were Novi Novogg on viola who added that perfect emotional classical touch to the evening. And there was Justin Lottie on stage right sitting behind a drum kit but never overdoing it. His percussion was (makes kiss with fingertips) perfecto. And leader Benham was center upstage, and he seemed to never stop playing, which is because Rose and director Kenny designed a stream-of-consciousness monologue that was operatic in nature. Specifically, her singing of her libretto was clearly recitative, going in and out of musical verse. Rose kept the audience engaged with constant change of dynamics and clever movement on stage, varying between the easy chair, the concrete bench and simply mid-stage. At times she would deliver her poignant lines by looking one of us directly in the eye. Other times, she had the dreamy, distant, far-away look as if she sought the imaginary clouds above us for answers.
Margot and Director Anne Kenny started work on the musical in 2019 and kept the attention on the messenger and her bold message, forgoing any elaborate set design. The simple elegant look was comforting, and it left a lot for the production designer, Nico Parduchio, to operate. Lighting designer, Alison Brummer, used sparing touches that had a wonderful effect. From simple pin spots on Melina Young's Nora, to the effective starlight scene, her special lights added so much. And we cannot forget the Aurora Borealis.
All senses were aroused during the run-up to the climax as Rose walked us through her past with sight and sound. We could hear the buzz and hum of the five life-extending machines that surrounded her comatose daughter, especially when they turned them off.
"How can I go on?" Truly. Her song that evoked such pathos was what she left us. How does one march forward after walking into the hospital to see the letters "MVA" after her daughter's name on the pass. Motor Vehicle Accident. And we learned little by little just like Margot did. She never did sing traditional songs during the musical. Rather she reprised small codas and half verses which was refreshing and made the music much more important than one where we had to hear the verses then the chorus than more verses than more choruses. Little bite-sized pieces of songs had much more of an effect.
And the harmonies that Melina Young and Aaron Benham added were perfect, especially supporting a hippie girl from the sixties, one who loved the Laurel Canyon sound of great harmonie
Yes, we all sat around the campfire on Vermont Avenue, listening to Margot Rose tell us how she slayed the saber-toothed tiger of grief, one song at a time, one story at a time. And we, as a city of loss, are better for it.
Unconditional runs Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays at 7:30pm and Sundays at 3pm through March 9, 2025 (no performances on 2/28, 3/1, 3/2) at Skylight Theatre, 1816 ½ North Vermont, Los Angeles, CA 90027.
Tickets are $30; with 10% discount for students and seniors. Reservations:
https://www.unconditionalmusical.com/. Information 818-749-6842.
Run-time is approximately 85 minutes (no intermission).