I hesitate to poke fun at trailer parks; as someone working in the arts, I will likely end up living in one--if I'm lucky. 'Til then, though, I will have a hoot listening to the recording of The Great American Trailer Park Musical. I laughed out loud more often listening to this score than any I've encountered yet in my Year. I must put more spoof musicals on the docket.
I don't want to give away any of the jokes, most of which lie in the pop-culture-ridden lyrics, but I will say there is a funny take-off on the 80s disco number "It's Raining Men" by the Weathergirls.
The cast of 7 is uniformly good--particularly the women, several of whom act as a sort of Greek chorus as well as their primary characters. Orfeh is new to my Year, but not new to me. She's enjoying a significant musical theater career--and her singing on this disc shows why. The other familiar name in the cast is Shuler Hensley, who was in the production of Oklahoma! with Hugh Jackman I encountered early in my Year. Mr. Hensley also created the role of the Monster in Mel Brooks's musicalization of his Young Frankenstein, now running on Broadway.
Mr. Hensley doesn't have a lot to sing in Trailer Park, and that which he does sing is only so-so. If I had one gripe about this show, I wished for a song for the men that was a funny and singable as most of the stuff for the female characters.
The Great American Trailer Park Musical
Music and Lyrics by David Nehls
Book by Betsy Kelso
Premiered in 2004, recorded in 2005
Cast: Kaitlin Hopkins, Shuler Hensley, Orfeh, Marya Grandy, Leslie Kritzer, Linda Hart, Wayne Wilcox
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