*warehouse theatre, august 8, 2025, 8pm*

the second show i saw at the

south carolina new play festival 2025:

THE BREAK, a new musical

with music by michael kooman

book & lyrics by christopher dimond

directed by melissa crespo

musical direction by harry collins.

the cast:

jane bruce as sam

ben fankhauser as charlie

friday (august 8; we’ve gone back in time to theatre week, remember), i had some studio time at home and got out my patreon sticker mail for the month— and myrtle the turtle once again got me to the theatre on time!

okay, so i was SO on time, that after i found parking (hey, it was greenville on a friday night, that could have taken way longer than it did), i even had time to sit in the garden with dale chihuly’s “jolly rancher” sculpture. you know, until a blue skink shimmied by. then i moved to another ledge. and then i went into the theatre where i belonged. *shiver*

as a donor, i could find my (unassigned) seat 45 minutes before general admission. and yet an old lady still cut* in line in front of me.

*(question: am i next generation old theatre lady, or was i at the theatre 30 years early? i felt more vip without having to flash my vip lanyard, so i suppose it was my own fault for not wearing it at the front of the line?)

*my just-in-case-of-theatre-drafts jacket. my trusty* *notebook. my lanyard with my show ribbon. (i’d collect* MERLIN RETURNS later that weekend, i was -nearly- too late to the show to get it night-of!)

unlike the night before at MERLIN RETURNS, this time i’d arrived with time to spare (even if my elders did get into the theatre ahead of me), and i got to take a picture of the empty theatre: a photography trick i love as stage sets tend to look like doll house interiors when photographed.

*okay, so maybe this is the dollhouse of a method actor?*

since this was a music-stand “reading” of a musical, the set consisted of:

two black chairs
with a black crate in between.

there were also an assortment of curious props on the black crate:

a shoe box
a vintage-esque pair of sunglasses with yellow lenses and black frames
a ring box
a piece of paper

and off-stage right:

a drum kit in a fish bowl
and a keyboard

that’s it.

so after i took photos of the minimalist stage, i pulled out my purse book.*

*(i’d thought of packing QUEEN MACBETH by val mcDermid —you know, in case anybody asked, i couldn’t say it out loud now, could i? ;) sometimes a theatre superstition might rescues an introvert. thankfully, the only person who dared talk to me all night was much later, when a 20-something asking if the chair next to me was open. think i got away with an awkward thumbs up.)

whether the late 90’s/early aughts music was on purpose for the show, or just the warehouse’s artistic director’s preferred playlist, i didn’t know yet. i mostly failed miserably at trying to tune out all the songs i hated from my college and early 20’s as i read a book about a lady who rescues a kitten from a fence, moves to tokyo, gets a divorce, and well, i’d have to save the second half of my purse book for intermission.

*early = good. climbing over people already in their seats? let alone after the house lights have dimmed? heavens forbid it.*

but golly.

who needs a book* when the show is this good?!

*(did i just type that?!)

the show began with a banger of a song: “this is not a love story.”

(the lyrics of which included both a john mayer and a nora ephron reference— so, yeah. that 90’s music as the audience arrived was intentional.)

the two actors promised the audience that we weren’t about to see a romcom.

(i thought of FIRST DATE with krysta rodriguez and zachary levi. or IF/THEN with idina menzel, but i digress. this was better.)

here is a picture of my notebook as i scrawled funny lines and moments in the dark:

the show’s premise?

sam and charlie been dating so long, and living together, that everything is now routine. even sharing parentage of an iguana, there’s no spark anymore. sure, they’re friends. but mostly just roomies now?

and everybody who’s anybody has an opinion: that a proposal and wedding are imminent.

buuuuuut, neither of them are feeling it.

sooooo… do they break up? or, you know, date around new york for a bit to see if this is as good as it’s gonna get or if there’s more (love, romance, “making out” heh-hem, etc). out there?

fact: they took THE BREAK.

so, non-appropriate-ness abounded. in plenty.

was it still beyond funny (mostly because you couldn’t believe they were singing these things)?

fer sure-tainly.

and golly oh golly: the two actors’ voices!!!!!!

gaaaahhhhhh!!!!

*the cast board in the lobby featuring our two STARS: jane bruce and ben fankhauser. the two best voices i’ve ever heard live. ever.*

they were PERFECTION.

i expected that they’d been workshopping this show together for months.

but nope!

jane bruce had gotten the book (and music) on MONDAY.

“that’s just the level they’re working at,” i was told by michael kooman (the show’s composer) when i saw him and was brave enough to linger and compliment him after a workshop session the next day.

the show included “let it go” levels of soaring, catchy, achy ballads (but with more city-slicker, anti-romance angst)— and “just get out of the bathroom*” must have made me laugh because i wrote that down.

*(ross’ leather pants, anybody? just me?)

i also scribbled “we suck less than other people,” and i dunno if that was a line or a lyric, but it apparently was worthy of marking in my theatre-dark notebook.

the yellow sunglasses prop were when the character sam put on a new yorker dialect and spoke as their pet iguana to dose out some life wisdom:

“iguanas are wise as sh!t.”

(rip, mr. iguana; that shoe box was for such an occasion as his requiem.)

“we’re gonna have to talk about this, aren’t we?”
“but we’ve been avoiding it so well.”

the show was ( just guesstimating here) 90% or more straight up singing.

with two people.

for an hour and forty minutes.

again: how?

and HOW were they so good???

their chemistry* was perfect.

*(although i was picking up on some gaston-level of eye-contact throughout the show in my direction, but no winks.)

both of their voices* were amazing.

*(jane bruce’s voice even more pure than the BRIGHT STAR obcr, imo.)

as awkward as i am and as much as i hate them (especially when they feel performative),

i have NEVER (ever ever) stood so quickly for a standing ovation.

after shuffling out of the theatre behind a few dozen of my 30-years-into-the-future-selves, and after avoiding the reporters in the lobby (not there for me, obvs., but for crowd reactions), i drove away, the full moon leering behind the clouds, and singing the bridge of the finale song on repeat the whole way home:

“this is a different kind of love story.”

so yeah.

that’s all i have to say about THE BREAK.

it was nothing at all like i expected.

i shall never (ever) let my mother see it.

or my husband. (teehee.)

but it was also one of the most beautiful, well done, hilarious shows i’ve ever seen (or heard).

i know a number of SCNPF shows have made the broadway or off-broadway transfer and i’ll be the first to get in line to see this one once they announce it.

you know, as long as jane and ben star in it.

even with my vivid imagination, i can’t picture anyone else as perfectly perfect (and not-sucky) in these roles.

please to also condsider their ocbr pre-ordered by me first.

sadly, i can’t even remember the tune to “this is a different kind of love story” anymore, but i know that when i woke up the next day with it still in my head, i wasn’t annoyed by it even a little bit.

mad claps all around.

full scnpf 2025 program

coming up next: my day of scnpf 2025 insider sessions: casting, voice over work, and writing for stage and screen workshops!

(+ three more shows to go!)

scnpf 2025: THE BREAK. an hilarious un-love story including a requiem for an iguana.