"Its own self-description, 'a new play with music,' while accurate, doesn't quite feel precise enough - is it a spy story in three-part harmony? A surrealist operetta with scenes? The craftsmanship is prodigious: Reddick also wrote the music that twines through the play, sinuous and often sweetly sinister as sung by the titular choir, who are both players in the story and our guides through the increasingly fantastical action."
"On the wide, shallow stage of MCC's Newman Mills Theater, he and his designers paint the play red. Red carpet, red neon, red tinsel Christmas trees (it's 1987, and we're in Syracuse, New York, at holiday time); red light soaks the stage as the choir warbles in complementary red ensembles."
"We're always entertained, frequently laughing - at the same time, as in certain Wes Anderson movies, there's something in the extra-stylish surface that keeps deeper feelings at bay."
Cold War Choir Practice is a distinctive theatrical work that premiered at Summerworks and won the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Set in 1987 Syracuse during the holiday season, the play follows a 10-year-old protagonist named Meek through a heightened, surrealist narrative. Playwright Ro Reddick also composed the music that weaves through the production, performed by a three-member choir who function as both characters and guides. The choir members—Grace McLean, Nina Ross, and Suzzy Roche—deliver sinuous, often sinister vocals. Director Knud Adams employs striking visual design dominated by red aesthetics: red carpets, neon, tinsel, and lighting. While the production's elaborate style and atmosphere create consistent entertainment and humor, the ornate surface occasionally distances audiences from deeper emotional resonance, similar to certain Wes Anderson films.
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