See Rock City & Other Destinations
David Sheward
July 25, 2010: Watching Transport Group's new musical "See Rock City & Other Destinations" is like flipping through a friend's vacation snapshots. Some are eye-catching, some are moving, and some leave you with that "I guess you had to be there" feeling. This patchwork tuner is composed of short vignettes revolving around tourist attractions and the emotional sustenance a handful of sightseers hopes to gain from visiting them. Director Jack Cummings III delivers an innovative environmental production, and the seven-member cast limns its multiple roles with urgency and wit, but Adam Mathias' book is uneven. About half of the sketches land with precision, but the rest miss the bull's-eye, either by a few degrees or several target rings. Also, in an annoying and unnecessary convention, the actors read stage directions to set the scenes and occasionally comment on the action. However, the score is solid, featuring Brad Alexander's fresh, unfamiliar music and Mathias' surprising lyric choices.
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