Actress, Allison Case singing “It’s a Human Drama Thing”.
Hands on a Hard Body, what? As seductive as this title may sound, it’s not what you would expect it to be. This new broadway musical is inspired by a 1997 documentary that shares the same title.
In the hot and dry town of Longview, Texas, 10 working-class Texans enter a contest that rewards them with a new red pickup truck that could change their lives. The rules for these musical competitors are plain and simple; they must stay standing with one hand on the car until one is remaining.
This upbeat rhythm and blues musical introduced charismatic but strange characters. The musical left the audiences humming songs and made them cheer on for your favorite character, such as Norma Valverde, a husky Texan women who believes God is the key to winning this competition.
Even though Hands on a Hard Body had favorable characters and an okay plot, it was a disappointment. Seline Perez, a junior at WHSAD stated that “The show had a great pace at the beginning but after intermission I shut down. It felt like every 2 minutes of dialogue the annoyance of cheesy musical numbers came in. Don’t get me wrong, I love musicals but some of the songs became really annoying…it wasn’t bad but it wasn’t the best I’ve seen.” Seline wasn’t the only student with negative opinions. Kayla Gardner, a sophomore, said that “As talented as the actors and actresses were, the play was still a disappointment.” Overall the teens of WHSAD found the musical tedious due to the constant musical numbers that kept interfering with drama.
The well known television, film, and stage actor Keith Carradine was meant to be the draw of the show but failed to nail his performance. Mr. Carradine character was meant to the lead but his weak performance left an impression that he was only playing a lame secondary character. On positive side, many of the students found the rest of actor where extremely talented. Actor Jacob Min-Trent nailed his two musical numbers which left the students humming outside the theatre.
Overall the students of WHSAD were thankful to the organization Early Stages for yet another opportunity to attend a Broadway at a reduced price. .
