Signature Theatre proves its dedication to the new musical by beginning its 2011-2012 season with two works commissioned as part of what it calls the American Musical Voices Project: The Next Generation. One of the musicals, “The Boy Detective Fails,” is based on a novel by Joe Meno. With music and lyrics by Adam Gwon, it tells the story of a savvy young boy, Billy Argo (Stephen Gregory Smith), who has a knack for solving mysteries along with his sister, Caroline (Margo Seibert), and a childhood chum.
At the beginning the ensemble sings, “In our town all the things we’ve ever loved have begun to disappear,” setting the tone for a scary story. When Caroline commits suicide, her death becomes the only mystery Billy can’t solve and it causes him such pain that he withdraws to a mental institution.
| Onstage |
| ‘The Boy Detective Fails’ |
| Where: Signature Theatre, 4200 Campbell Ave., Arlington |
| When: Through Oct. 16 |
| Info: $67 to $81; 703-573-7328; signature-theatre.org |
When he returns home 10 years later, Billy tries to unravel the fact of Caroline’s death and meets an eccentric young woman, Penny Maple (Anika Larsen), who brings him back to life.
Although there is some extraneous material in the first act that slows the musical down, Gwon’s music and lyrics are solid throughout, including everything from Vaudeville numbers to heart-wrenching ballads. For the most part, director Joe Calarco keeps the musical moving briskly along, helped by Karma Camp’s fluid choreography.
“The Boy Detective Fails” is very much about a town. Set designer Derek McLane creates miniature buildings out of large cardboard boxes: a church, a restaurant, a barber shop and so on. Behind the boxes, a horizontal curtain pictures a green, hilly landscape and a sky that changes color in accord with the mood of the play.
A large part of the success of this musical depends on an emphasis of the importance of the past. Smith and Seibert are not only versatile singers; they also create a delightful sense of a bygone Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew era.
Smith is onstage almost nonstop for 2 1/2 hours, and his singing is superb every moment. Larsen is marvelous as the dizzy kleptomaniac Penny and is particularly taking as she dances a solo number, “As Long As You Are Here.” Thomas Adrian Simpson steals the show as the absent-minded Professor Von Golum.
The remaining cast members are tremendously strong singers, an essential element in a musical that is so much about community.
Part of the story line of “Boy Detective Fails” is difficult, but it’s a tribute to Meno and Gwon that this mystery about loss ultimately comes across as hopeful, suggesting that life can be worth living even if the answer to every mystery is not known.
