Review: ‘Reunion’ at NoHo Arts Center

Youthful ideals, roads not taken, bad hair. Such are the wistful memories and life yardsticks facing the middle-aged high school alumni gathered in the innocuously agreeable, well-crafted new musical comedy “Reunion” at the NoHo Arts Center.

The show began life as a series of character sketches composed by Marc Ellis and Michael Lange after attending their own high school reunion. They then enlisted their colleague David M. Matthews to help shape the songs into this book musical, which views the discoveries and neuroses of adolescence through the rearview mirror of adult maturity.

The result is a debut production crisply staged and choreographed by Kay Cole with the kind of breezy self-evidence the title suggests. Individual musical portraits of fictional Frogs Neck High classmates amusingly play out against projected yearbook-style images of their younger selves.

The personality types are instantly recognizable and relatable in their life trajectories: the cheerleader-turned trophy wife (Julia Marie Buis), the bullying football jock turned mid-life mediocrity (Jeffrey Rockwell), the fashion designer emcee (Christopher Youngsman) who comes out of the closet to the surprise of no one.

Threading the portraits is a slender romantic narrative involving Elliot (David Babich), a nebbishy writer hoping for a second chance with Amelia (Kim Reed) the gal he was too shy to woo in school and whose delayed arrival at the reunion is causing him fits of neurotic angst and self-doubt.

Granted, there isn’t much suspense when whether or not they’ll get together is more dependent on traffic conditions than their personalities.

The creators’ professional film and TV songwriting pedigrees are apparent in the lyrics’ articulate, economical character definitions, and the catchy pop/rock recorded score by composer Ellis. Exceptional singing voices lend some gravitas to the production as well, particularly the timely commentary on racial alienation from the two black alumni (Marc Cedric Smith and Sharon Catherine Brown).

For the most part, though, the tone is light, and the songs are mostly character summaries—only occasionally do they incorporate the revelations or self-discoveries that distinguish the most memorable musicals.

“Reunion,” NoHo Arts Center, 11136 Magnolia Blvd., North Hollywood. 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 3 p.m. Sundays. Ends Dec. 13. $34.99. (323) 960-7773 or www.plays411.com/reunion. Running time: 2 hours, 25 minutes.