Constellation Theatre: Desperate Measures

 Desperate Measures is a musical loosely based on Shakespeare's "Measure By Measure," set in the 19th century wild west.  It is a farcical tale told by six extremely talented actors.  In a nutshell, and honorable man does a dishonorable act and his fate is left in the hands of a dishonorable man who will pardon him if his honorable sister does a dishonorable act with him!  Only another honorable man who knows that the first honorable man deserves to be pardoned, and that his honorable sister must not be allowed to dishonor herself, contrives with his sister to employ the services of a dishonorable woman in a ruse to fool the dishonorable man into pardoning his otherwise honorable brother.  And there is a drunk priest who lost his fate at the hands of Friedrich Nietzsche running around for good measure.  After an additional betrayal by the dishonorable man, more schemes are hatched and in the end the honorable man #1 and the dishonorable (but reformed) woman, and the honorable man #2 and the honorable woman are united in Holy Matrimony in a double service, while the dishonorable man is driven from town and the priest discovers just enough sobriety to officiate the weddings.  There will not be a quiz.

Constellation Theatre, in the night sky of the DMV theatre world, is my first love.  It is presented in a shotgun storefront

space off of U Street on 14th Street, NW.  The lobby is about the size of the room I am sitting in (not that large) with floor to ceiling plate glass windows facing the street.  10 feet in there is a short (6 ft long) corridor flanked on either side by a restroom, and then you are in the "theatre".  There are no permanent structures beyond this point and whatever you discover, from stage space and sets to seating configuration is new with each production.  The height of the space is roughly 20 feet, suggesting a removal of the second floor.  Above a lattice of metal pipes can be reconfigured to hold all the overhead light boxes.  It's possible to create a stadium seating option when the performance space is set up in the rear.  And this is how it was arranged from "Desperate Measures."  It is such an intimate experience, where whomever sits in the front row, is never more the 3 feet away from a set piece.  I've seen several wonderful musicals here beginning with "Urinetown," the very first show I saw in September of 2017 when I declared that 2017-2018 my "Year of Living Theatrically."  

From the first moment when the wonderfully talented Nina-Sophia Pacheco entered dressed as the Saloon Maid, Belle Rose, to entreat the audience to turn off their cellphones, game on!  Every member of the ensemble has beautiful voices, dare I say, Rebecca Ballinger who played Susanna, and Greg Watkins, as Governor Van Richterhenkemplfichtgetruber (Yeah play it out, it's intentional!), have operatic voices.  They also all have over-the-top characters to inhabit and all brought them to life with vim and vigor!  I would say, in fact, that Tyler Dobies was particularly adept at the well timed ironic moment.  More laugh out loud moments than I can count.  An utter delight from start to finish, on stage for another week--my DMV Homies--if you need or want a late winter pick-me-up, this is a reasonable priced get away, and, yes, I'd see it again...in fact, as a season ticket holder...I just might.

The Full Cast Mostly... [L-R: Rebecca Ballinger (Susanna), Tyler Dobies (Sheriff Martin Green), Hunter Ringsmith (Johnny Blood), [understudy Audrey Baker as Belle Rose--did not see her perform in this presentation], Greg Watkins (Governor Van Richterhenkemplfichtgetruber, Bobby Libby (Father Morse).

The Belle Rose I saw, played by Nina Sophia Pacheco.

Greg Watkins and Rebecca Ballinger

Hunter Ringsmith, Rebecca Ballinger and Tyler Dobies.