Hong Kong: The Freshman Musical

It is a world in which giant scorpion bowls and sinister fortune cookies lurk around every corner. It is a world inhabited by a militant feminist stripper, a Harvard dropout, a closet homosexual, a closet heterosexual, a voluptuous blues singe and a troupe of waiters with names out of an Abbott and Costello routine. It is the world of the Freshman Musical, a world in which ordinary rules of theater and of theater reviewing do not necessarily apply. Creating an original musical entirely from scratch is never an easy matter, and it is probably less so when the show is written by committee. The fact that a musical as coherent as The Hong Kong has emerged from such less-than-ideal circumstances should probably be viewed as a minor miracle.

Designed as a parody of prime-time television melodramas, Hong Kong contains a little of everything, from heartbreak to hysterics. In the opening number, we are introduced to six Harvard students making a late night at the Kong. Each has a dark secret that is eventually revealed to the others through fortune cookies cooked up by Kong waiter and Harvard dropout Hei Yiu (Andy Olsen '02). But the road to fortune is a leisurely one, and there are frequent bus stops at the cities of Parody, Satire, and Random Joke. In one minute-long exchange, three of the students list their current assignments in an attempt to decide who has the hardest schedule; militantly feministic Meredith (Sarah Meyers '02) wins with--among other things--a position paper on the "exploitation of the Chilean sea urchin." Billy (Amias Moore-Gerety '02) spews bad double-entendres with annoying regularity; after his girlfriends desert him, he perks up at thoughts of prefrosh virgins. When Al Gore-ish, IOP-loving Jack Canaday (James Benenson '02) discovers that Valerie (Jessica Kirshner '02) has been cheating on him, he whips out his cell phone and gives his father word of a "code red" that could destroy his (i.e., Jack's) political career. B.J. Averell '02, as a Harvard Square "pit kid," changed identities every five minutes; at one point, he had a priceless scene as a prefrosh from the "People's Liberated Democratic Totally Free Republic of Queequeg."

The score was a mixed bag, but it gets the point across. Valerie sang an amusing blues piece in which she descended to the pit and flirts with pianist Alex Healy '02 (who wrote the song). The coyly effeminate Pp (Adam Kline '02) danced a bizarre music-video parody on the subject of black leather. Annie Tigani '02, as one of several dimwitted Wellesley girls, sang a gratuitous but excellent song (by Jihwan Kim '02 and Rachel Eisenhaure '02) about "wanting a Harvard Man." (I hope no one from Wellesley saw the show.) Orchestra conductor Lembit Beecher '02 provided an even more gratuitous but very funny paean to gratuitous Broadway songs.

Of course, the Freshman Musical is in many ways a learning experience for those involved, and it is not an entirely polished product. Bumpy spots in the script and score--and there are several--are smoothed over by the good intentions of the audience members, who want nothing more than to like the show that is being performed for them. Fortunately, the students involved in Hong Kong met the audience halfway, putting a lot of effort into making the evening fun for all concerned--and that's really the only thing that matters in the world of the Freshman Musical.