"Western Civilization! The Complete..."

August 28, 2018 — For the final show of its 88th season, The Barnstormers Theatre in Tamworth, New Hampshire presented a musical comedy with the ungainly title "Western Civilization! The Complete Musical (Abridged)" by Reed Martin, Austin Tichenor, Nick Graham and Dee Ryan. This production was directed for the Barnstormers by Blair Hundertmark with musical direction by Tommy Iafrate. Sarah Rozene designed the set and Mary Selvoski the many costumes.

Three actors carried the frenzied show, Rachel Alexa Norman, Cheryl Mullings and Jordan Ahnquist. Going through 1,000 years of history in 90 minutes, the show turns sexism, racism, bigotry and hypocrisy into catchy tunes and laughs. There's interaction with the audience, and in one scene we're sprayed by water guns.

Through many amazingly quick costume changes, the actors take us through a series of historical epochs, from the dark ages to the modern information age. Each epoch is introduced by an off-stage voice describing highlights of that particular period, every one ending with the same line, "And the world is under the control of a small group of rich white males."

The three actors play many roles, utilizing their various costumes and different accents. Songs with titles such as "History Ain't What It Used To Be" and "Flush Your Troubles Away" and a love duet featuring Adolph Hitler and Genghis Kahn are just a small sample of the cutting satire. There's also a generous amount of slapstick and sight gags that would make the Marx Brothers envious.

This audience-pleasing production was a great ending to the Barnstormers' summer season, which I can't believe has ended. It seems as though it just started!