Review
10 Million Miles
Atlantic Theatre
June 20, 2007
Morgan Wycks
mwycks@nyconstage.org
The 10 Million Miles of the musical of the same name oddly feels that long in performance. This road trip with a book by Keith Bunin and music and lyrics by Patty Griffin takes us along the back highways of the East Coast from the southern tip of Florida to the northwest corner of New York. Molly (Irene Molloy) is a young woman with a past and currently has a bun in the oven and needs to get to the more accepting members of her family. Duane (Matthew Morrison), a loose canon eager for adventure and who may or may not be the father of Molly’s bun, agrees to include her in his journey for a more exciting life. Though Mr. Morrison invests his character with a lot of wild and woolly charm and though Ms. Molloy possesses a nice enough presence as well as a relatively authentic country sound, I couldn’t have cared less about their trek. Thankfully, they are met along the way by a series of characters all of whom are inhabited by the pleasant Skipp Sudduth and the incredibly talented Mare Winningham. However, we are given only glimpses of these people so it’s not enough of a diversion to make us care.
Though the car designed by Derek Malone is cleverly multi-purposed for the set, there is no sense of its movement under the lack-luster direction of Michael Mayer. Ms.Griffin has a nice way with words and certainly understands the country-western motif of her music, but they can barely animate Mr. Bunin’s sketchbook. I have to say I have had more exciting excursions on trips around the block.
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