Moonlight and Love Songs is a jewel. And it is found in of those tiny little black box theaters that go on spawning theater night after night. The writing is crisp, the direction is clean, and the acting is spot on.
About the only thing wrong with Moonlight and Love Songs is the premise, and even that you sort of gloss over with a “Well, it is theater and I’m supposed to suspend belief, aren’t I?” The premise is that a fifteen-year-old boy masquerades as a college student and lands in a relationship with a 46-year-old man. The theory here is that the kid is under the age of consent (which, you may be interested to know, varies from fourteen to eighteen in the U.S.). This puts the older man at risk of going to jail, and makes the kid a liar. Not a great way to begin a relationship. This little detail needs some work because 1) The difference between a fifteen-year-old and a 21-year-old is fairly obvious, and 2) Ryan Tresser, who plays the kid, is clearly not fifteen. An excellent actor he is, but not fifteen.
All that being said, this is still a terrific show. Harry is a boy who lives alone in his tidy world with only his sister Diane (Nicole Taylor) and brother-in-law Ben (Jeff Paul) to keep him company. It is really this sibling relationship that becomes the moving dynamic of the story. It is the sister we turn to as our barometer, which turns out to be a good thing because Scott Sickles has the gift of writing for women. It is a gift not only to the actor but to us as well.
Diane is cryptic, hopeful, and judgmental all in one. Taylor’s performance smacks you in the forehead and make you pay attention. Sickles has also created a poignant and odd little part for Jim’s mom (Eileen Bennett) who, when faced with her child’s predilections, her husband's religious calling, and her own chemo, happily chooses marijuana.
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