By Reena Dutt
Arizona Daily Wildcat
February 19, 1998

'Tombstone'

Photo courtesy of Arizona Rose Theatre Co. Arizona Daily Wildcat The old West is alive with the sound of music: Ike Clanton, Curley Bill, Frank McLaury and Johny Ringo: characters from "Tombstone: The Musical."

The Wild West - guns, booze, whores, singing and dancing cowboys - uh, wait a minute. In "Tombstone: The Musical," Arizona Rose Theater provides a musical interpretation of life in an old western town.

Complete with choreographed song and dance numbers, this tale brings the age-old clash between the good,the bad and the ugly to the stage.

The show, created by the Arizona Rose Theater owners, Terry and Cynthia Howell, dips into the lives of the people in the old town community, including Nellie Cashman, an Irish storekeeper played by Clare Cox, a prostitute played by Jennifer Marie Williams, and the sheriff and the Earp brothers played by Andy Hersey, Brandon Howell, and Joe Preuss. The story eventually leads to a conclusion that can only be assumed, since it is not really played out - supposedly a death of some sort.

Since the storyline is rather undefined, it's hard to really say what the play is about, even though it is based on a real incident from 1880. In any case, the plot is divided into several subplots, seemingly unrelated, joined together through songs with often repetitive lyrics. "Tombstone" jumps from a love story to a lesson in child-raising ethics, to tales of abused harlots and more, leaving the audience with no real thematic thread to follow.

The subplots are choppy. One minute a woman called Kate, played by Melissa Chambers, is talking about sex ruling a bad relationship, and the next minute she's singing a duet with Doc Holliday, played by Scott Seitzberg, including the lines "I know this love I feel/Deep in my soul/For you is real/So take this love/I feel for you/To heal your wound/For this love is true." Huh? Obviously, the relationships between characters are not defined as well as they could be.

For a musical written in three weeks, I suppose I should be saying the final product was well done; however, instead of impressing me, it made me see its undeveloped potential instead. The music seems overly-simple, and the script doesn't explain much. As in many musicals, the singing is what connects or continues the story, but in this, the music functions like a movie stand-in - it simply puts the plot on pause, forcing the audience to wait for some kind of evolution that doesn't really happen. A little more time taken to develop this piece could make a world of difference in the performance.

It is nice to note, at least, that there are University of Arizona students and alumni involved in "Tombstone." They are out there performing in the Tucson community at large, entertaining those around them. If you go to see this musical for anything, make it a show of support for UA performers and their costars.

For show times and ticket information, call 888-0509.