REEFER MADNESS IS SMOKING HOT!

Go see Reefer Madness, the satirical musical opening this season at
Hart House. It isn't just a good piece of student theatre, it's a good
piece of theatre and definitely the best thing I've ever seen at Hart
House. Also, it's the Canadian premiere of one of the funniest,
smartest musicals to come out in recent years.

Based on the 1930s anti-marijuana film of the same name, Reefer tells
the story of Jimmy, a wholesome sixteen-year-old kid who gets drawn
into a seedy world of sex, hit-and-runs and baby-selling after he
becomes addicted to that most deadly of narcotics: marijuana.

You might have caught the Showtime movie version which came out last
year starring Alan Cumming, Neve Campbell and Kristen Bell (aka
Veronica Mars). The original film was produced by a church board and
told the story as a sincere warning against the dangers of cannabis,
but was so absurd and over-the-top that it became a cult favourite.

Reefer
Madness: The Musical broadly expands on the skeleton plot of the
original film and turns it into a deliciously campy, wickedly funny romp.

Jimmy (played by Benjamin Mehl) is a typical teenaged boy who wants
only to impress his girlfriend Mary Lane (Jennifer Walls), whether by
attempting to quote Shakespeare or showing off his dance moves.

But his life is changed forever when he meets Jack (Leonard Elias), a
smooth-talking stranger who promises to give him swing-dancing
lessons, at a five-and-dime. Jack introduces Jimmy to Ralph (Adam
Barrett), a cackling brain-dead pothead, Sally (Dawn-Luv MacNaughton),
a sex-crazed floozy with a baby she's too stoned to name and Mae
(Christine Aziz), Jack's washed-up squeeze.

Lampooning the reactionary paranoia of the 1930s film, all it takes is
one puff of one joint for Jimmy to be transformed into a crazed drug
fiend who robs poor boxes, steals cars and has Arabian Nights-inspired
bisexual fantasy sequences.

Jimmy's downward spiral is framed by a series of scenes with a
narrator (Andrew Moyes), a lecturer who is telling Jimmy's story as
part of a PTA meeting.

He announces: "Creeping like a Communist, it's knocking at our doors/
Turning all our children into hooligans and whores!"

The cast of the show is completely phenomenal; there is not a weak
link. Even the chorus members are enthused, funny and very talented,
whether playing high school students, zombie-like reefer fiends or
dancing brownie ingredients. Andrew Moyes probably has the hardest job
on stage as his narrator makes frequent appearances within the story
as everything from a soda jerk. to the devil to FDR and he is
definitely up for the challenge.

Benjamin Mehl brings a tooth ache-inducing sweetness and accomplished
physicality to the central role of Jimmy. As bored nymphomaniac Sally,
Dawn-Luv MacNaughton oozes thrift-store sexuality, like Marilyn
Monroe's sleazier little sister who wound up on skid row. David
Pereira almost steals the show as Jesus, who appears to Jimmy in
visions, urging him to return to the flock and give up the pot. He has
a lovable yet smarmy quality that somehow make him entirely believable
as the old J.C. But it's Jennifer Walls who shows the greatest
potential as the musical's leading lady. She infuses the stupid and
sweet-natured Mary with genuine pathos and hilarious comic timing.

Plus, she has a fantastic singing voice.

But, that's the thing about this show. Everyone has a great singing
voice.

Everyone can dance.

Everyone's funny.

The technical aspects of the show were mostly laudable.

The multitude of costumes were beautiful, the choreography was snappy
and fun, the sets functional and actually technically impressive and
the lighting effective yet not obtrusive.

This is the fourth year in a row Elenna Mosoff has directed a musical
for Hart House and this is certainly her best one yet. One can see the
journey she has been taking (this show combines the main character
from Godspell with the kinkiness of The Rocky Horror Show and the
traditional musical theatre aesthetic of A Chorus Line.

In many ways, Reefer Madness is the ideal campus musical.

It's hip and funny and bound to appeal to the typical university
student's sense of humour (not that there's anything any student of
Victoria College would possibly know about smoking pot). It's full of
clever dialogue and genuinely catchy songs (you can hum them as you
leave!). It's also not too ambitious.

This is a solid little show that knows what it's about and is
unpretentious.

I really think you should see this show. Campus theatre of this
quality is a rare delight.

I don't want to seem overly gushing - I'm not the kind of person to
throw excessive praise onto any old show that goes up at UofT. But
outside of some minor technical difficulties that the company have
probably dealt with since opening night and the odd sight gag that
didn't quite fly, I don't have anything bad to say about this play. If
you want to see an accomplished piece of musical theatre, check it
out. If you want to see a satire of conservative American
religio-politics, check it out. If you just want to see Benjamin
Mehl's bum in a jock strap, check it out.

Like a smooth high, this show will leave you content, giggly and a
little bit hungry.