“Jilted to Perfection” at The Triad Theatre
Pictured: Debra Cook Photo by: Tanzi Propst/The Park Record
Max Berry, New York City Critic
With a book, music, and lyrics written by Debra Cook, “Jilted to Perfection” tells the story of a divorced Mormon mom and her growing relationship with a scientologist actor/director. Through this relationship she takes many risks, makes many sacrifices, and watches her life change before her eyes. Told mostly in a monologue with songs throughout, Cook takes us through her life in this new musical.
Cook is no doubt a talented singer and songwriter. Her voice carried each song with a gorgeous operatic quality as well as a clear sense of humor, and the songs are well-written, ranging from the heartfelt “Big Guy” to the humorous “Jody Foster’s Father is a Con Man”. Cook clearly demonstrates a talent as well as an openness to tell her story though that talent.
However, it seemed that where “Jilted to Perfection” faltered was in the book. Cook’s monologue felt more like a means to get from one song to another, rather than telling a story and letting the songs compliment that story. More often than not, it seemed that “Jilted” would give us some information quickly and with little time to absorb the emotion or humor of it. When you are trying to cram an entire relationship into an hour show you are naturally going to have to skip over some things. Though I wish there were a few more moments where we could take some time to live in the words and not try and rush to the next song. This did improve as the show went on and there several moments towards the end of the show that I felt were given much more attention and weight.
The ensemble in this show felt like someone was unsure where or when to bring them in. When they were on stage, it created a very cool affect and definitely helped show some of the situations Cook was describing, serving not only as a chorus for some of the songs, but as multiple characters in Cook’s story. Though, they felt like they did not belong in the world of the play that was set up by Cook at the beginning. It seemed “Jilted” was fighting between two different versions of itself: The one-woman musical and the ensemble bio musical about Cook’s life. When the ensemble was on stage it was very engaging but I would have liked to have seen them used more consistently throughout the play.
“Jilted to Perfection” is a show with great songs and great performers but feels unsure about what it wants to be and how it wants to tell its story. I look forward to seeing the story grow and evolve in future productions.
“Jilted to Perfection” was written by Debra Cook
It features: Debra Cook, Jordyn Aspyn, Josh Durfey, Gloria Edwards, Ellie Gallagher, McKinslee Mitchell, Tara Munford, Katelynn Munford, Asher Reppert, Steve Sady, Linda Stagg, Vicky Talmage, Brytan Todd, Caroline Waldmann
It was directed by Kathy Morath
It was choreographed by Ellie Gallagher
“Jilted to Perfection” was performed at the Triad Theatre (!58 West 72nd Street, New York, NY 10023)