Just a few steps away from the buzz and excitement of Times Square is Theatre Row’s Kirk Theatre, a newly renovated Off-Broadway stage, situated on 42nd street between 9th and 10th avenue.  Presently it has given home to John Gregor‘s musical comedy With Glee.  I attended the first preview of this delightful Prospect Theater Company success on July 10th and I was truly amazed to see such energy and excitement exhuming from the stage.  Nowadays it is not rare to find talent amongst Off-Broadway shows.  However, it is substantially rare when you see that talent put to its full potential.  I found that extremely the case in With Glee’s fun cast of seven.

Surely freshman year in high school is no picnic, especially when you’re a teenage boy being sent to a boarding school in a another state.  This is the challenge Scott, Nathaniel, Sam, Clay, and Kip must face when they end up at the Westbrook Boarding School for Boys in none other than Maine.  Their ridiculous stories intertwine perfectly in the opening number “Bad Kid School.”  Yet their stress with trying to fit in while also adjusting to nutty teachers in “Gaul Was Divided Into Three Parts” gets the ball rolling for the rest of the show.  I especially loved Greg Horton and Erin Jerozal’s portrayals of all of the boys’ parents and professors.  Their change in character literally came one after another and I certainly appreciated their abilities to do so.  I couldn’t help but marvel at the quick set changes and in the grand scheme of things I can without a doubt see this show being picked up by one of the bigger stages.  However, as I said before, this brilliant masterpiece of a show could not have gotten as much attention as it did without the help of its remarkable performers and their sparkling talent.  Chiefly, I would like to commend Zach Blander (Scott) and Max Spitulnik (Sam) for their hysterical portrayals of the typical rich boy and the streetwise punk respectively.

Musicals about coming of age stories usually stay closer to my heart more often than not.  Then again, how could they not?  We can all honestly say that we went through that awkward teenage phase and seeing it reenacted onstage in song and dance is always the cherry on the cake.  So in conclusion I would recommend With Glee to all theatergoers of all ages, especially if you’re ready for about two hours of non-stop laughing.

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Check out the show’s promo video: