CAPS LOCK: The Musical – It made me colon dash capital D

I entered “CAPS LOCK: The Musical” wondering what is in the water in Vancouver that two theatre companies in two months have produced musicals about life in the office (Delinquent Theatre recently premiered “Stationary” at the Neanderthal Arts Festival).

As it turns out, the water is good and there is need for two excellent office based musicals about the challenges of full-time employment, dating and living in our age in Vancouver. CAPS LOCK’s book is written by Jennifer Siddle & Dionne Gordon, music by Red Heartbreaker and lyrics by Adam Warren and is the first original musical for Pipedream Theatre Project.

The show opens with a large cast entering the stage to take their places in the office. This put off guard the Fringe announcer, who clearly wasn’t anticipating having to stand in the middle of a crowded office to deliver the opening speech, and got the audience laughing right away.  We kept laughing throughout the show. The cast is great, although at times a bit hard to hear. My favourites were Christopher Fofonoff whose rendition of IT Specialist Baurice is right on the nose – plus there is a whole song dedicated to what it means to be an IT guy. Also, Danielle Lemon’s voice and charm won me over immediately as the lead, Betty. The ensemble cast were fabulous, adding context to the office setting and moving seamlessly about the stage. The choreography by Darla Edin was right on and brought the right energy to both the ballads and upbeat songs.

While music is not my expertise, I greatly enjoyed the music in the show. A band of six was set on the stage. They were excellent, entertaining to watch and often participated in the comedy of the show. They fit so perfectly in the office setting, I found myself forgetting they were staring at music stands, not computer screens. I was particularly fond of the aforementioned song about being an IT guy and a ballad about the misunderstandings built into communicating electronically.

“CAPS LOCK” uses physical comedy, clever timing, hilarious one-liners and excellent music to talk about the foibles of modern communication. I appreciate a pieces of work that changes my state, especially this one that makes me :-D.