I'm Checking In!

Cellar Hotel is a new rock musical by Chicken Coop Theatre making its debut at the Toronto Fringe Festival. A loose re-telling of Faust, it takes place in the eponymous hotel and its adjoining bar, Auerbach's Lounge. Dr. Gray (Mischa Aravena) and his mousy assistant Samantha  (Stacey Gawrylash) arrive for a conference. He is dissatisfied with his calling while she carries a secret crush for him. At the hotel we also find Richard (Ryan Galloway) and Maggie (Ashley Gibson) Valentine, a well-to-do businessman and his emotionally fragile sister. Richard's ambitious assistant Kate (Ruth Goodwin) is also there to keep things running smoothly.

We soon realize that the hotel manager Alara (Michelle Cabral) and her helpful staff are actually God and the 7 Virtues. On the other side, we have Mephistopheles (Brad Marks) and his 7 Sins manning the bar. So begins the fight for the souls of these 4 guests.

With 21 people on stage, this production is likely the largest at the Fringe. But it's doubtful all are needed. Outside of the intro and finale, the Virtues have nothing to do. Only Patience has a duet with Maggie (Slowly But Surely). Just goes to show that it's always more fun to be bad. This lopsidedness is also there in the staging, as most of the action takes place on the Lounge side of the divide. Luckily, I sat on the right side. Otherwise, I'd hate to keep having to look over at stage right. This also made the stage direction and dance choreography of those scenes feel cramp. The director should have thought of a way to rearrange the set more effectively.

Musically, the songs are forgettable. The genre of "rock songs" is already limited, adding mediocre musical theatre lyrics (narrative) compounds the issue. Most of the singers do not have the power to project their voice over the music. Only "Second Fiddle" sung by Samantha, Kate, Envy, and Greed has some bite to it. The most successful song is strictly in the "Broadway"-style. The drag-queen cook Gluttony (Christian Davies) got the loudest cheers when he belted out Everything's Good, an ode to an epicurean's dream and a dissipated cousin of Beauty and the Beast's Be Our Guest.

We also don't care much about the main characters. They don't seem to have much inner life, feeling more like stereotypes existing so that they can be tempted by various Sins. The tone of the production is also muddle. Is it going for seriousness or sly comedy? It should have stuck with comedy; after all, there is something a little bit ridiculous about people breaking into dance and songs in real life. The alternative, as seen on stage, is a Mephistopheles who prowls around on stage, growling all his lines and lyrics. He is risible not menacing, as if The Kids In the Hall character Simon (of Simon and Hecubus) is played straight.

The production is enjoyable but doesn't rise to the same levels as past Fringe shows such as Drowsy Chaperone, My Mother's Jewish Wicca Lesbian Wedding or Fairy Tale Ending. Given all the people working on stage and behind-the-scenes, that's a lot of effort for a C-grade musical.