Top Photo: John Hartmann as Technician 2 and Sam Regal as Technician one, original cast 2002, photo by Quien Tran.
Middle Photo: Jason Alan Griffin as Technician 2, second cast of 2002.  Bottom photo Timothy P. Daly as Technician 2, Suzie Thiel as Tammy & Steve Deighan from cast of 2003, Photo by Jason Grossman.

REVIEW BY JON BERGER, ANTI-MATTERS
Sunday, February 25
Dixon Place
In her on-going series of audaciously produced ‘anti-musicals,’ Sharon Fogarty has created a series of choreographed plays, featuring original songs, dances, and malformed characters that come to life before the unbelieving viewer. In the last year, we’ve seen Heaven, the story of a non-carnate dancer in her post-life years, and Next To Nothing, the adventure of a psychiatrist and his institutionalized patients.

Adding to these pleasantly-themed works is the latest, The Overdevelopment of Scott, a science fiction tale featuring the genetically engineered ‘lab rats,’ (cloned humans that were designed especially to be experimented on). Featuring an AntiFolk orchestra (made up of Fogarty, Kenny Davidsen and Tony Hightower), and featuring numerous members of Sharon’s comedy collective, the Funny… Sheesh improv players, The Overdevelopment of Scott is funny and sad, horrific and humorous, dramatic and damned entertaining, all at once.

In the future, according to the plot, humans will be used for chemical and psychological testing. From affects of eating disorders to nicotine addiction, people will help people make people’s lives easier. But at what cost? The story, the songs, the star-turns (from Jason Grossman, John Hartmann and Sam Riegel as the experimented and experimenters, respectively) attempts to answer the question. Sharon Fogarty, as the voice of the computer, is especially evocative.

I’d strongly advise you to see the show, except it had a four-day run, and you missed it. Tough luck. Maybe, though, she’ll mount it again soon, or at worst, there’s a chance to catch the next anti-musical she puts together. Keep your eyes open.