Passage Theatre Company revisits this musical comedy.
By: Stuart Duncan
Seven years ago, Passage Theatre Company staged a gentle, charming musical, Move It and It’s Yours!, at Kelsey Theatre on the campus of Mercer County Community College. It was a funny, heart-warming tale of a young man, living on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, who was getting married, apparently for the third time, moving in with his new bride and therefore giving up his own apartment. In the process he had to dispense with his beloved piano, a leftover from the days when he used to write songs for a living.
It turns out to be a not-so-easy task. He discovers that movers demand $1,500 just to get it out of his fourth-floor brownstone walkup. His solution is to paper the neighborhood with flyers offering the piano free to anyone who will move it. Oh yes, it must be by 4 p.m. that afternoon because he is leaving for the airport with his new bride at that time. That explains the title of the show.
What it doesn’t explain, however, is why the creators Bill Weeden, David Finkle and Sally Fay, along with director Jeff Cohen took the gentle, charming little musical, shook it until every vestige of good taste was gone, rewrote and restaged it until all the glaring crass spots were highly polished and stood out, cast it with actors who have overacting down to a science and then added show-biz schtick to the point of nausea.
Don’t blame Dann Fink who plays Charlie, the piano’s owner. He tries desperately to recapture what was so appealing seven years ago. The best moment of this dreck is when he sits down at the keyboard, mercifully alone in the apartment and quietly sings "Someone Else’s Dream." It is probably the only tender moment left in the too-long (one hour and 45 minutes with intermission) play. Other than that, the script calls for a never-ending bunch of urban loonies to descend on him, with increasing fury, each demanding a spotlight number they can hack at.
Besides Fink there are seven other performers, but in the interests of fair play they shall remain nameless, just in case it’s really not their fault. Several have nice voices; some have done good work in the past if you can believe their bios. There is a 10-year-old boy who needs enunciation lessons because he has a cute song if you are able to understand the lyrics.
The reason for reviving the piece seems to be that someone thinks regional theaters need this sort of musical. Ain’t gonna happen at least not with this effort.
Move It and It’s Yours! continues at Passage Theatre Company, Mill Hill Playhouse, Front and Montgomery streets, Trenton, through Nov. 20. Performances: Thurs.-Fri. 8 p.m.; Sat. 2, 8 p.m.; Sun. 5 p.m. Tickets cost $25. For information, call (609) 392-0766. On the Web: www.passagetheatre.org

