Gregor (Curry Whitmire, left), a man who has turned into a bug, finds love when he meets Josephine (Emily Olcott), a mouse, in the garbage bin, in James Harvey’s musical Kafkaesque!.
Kafkaesque!, a clever new musical comedy with book, music, and lyrics by James Harvey, draws together the life of Czech novelist Franz Kafka and his major (and one minor) works. The show opens with Kafka (Harvey, a talented composer and pianist) at the piano as he defines who he is: a writer whose work has had so much impact that he’s become an adjective. The opening song about “the evils of bureaucracy, modernity’s alienation, man’s talent for hypocrisy, neuroses and fixation!” showcases the main themes of Kafka’s work that are woven together in the musical.
Lorenzo Moron (Harvey, left) offers his legal services to the Samsa family. Michael Samsa (John Nasser) agrees something is better than nothing.
The central plot is based on Kafka’s story The Metamorphosis: Gregor Samsa (played by the Gumby-like Curry Whitmire) is a lowly clerk who awakes one day to find he has turned into a gigantic insect. The Samsa family—Gregor’s parents, Karen (Emily Olcott) and Michael (Josh Nasser), and his sister, Greta (Alexandra Nader)—needs to figure out how to survive, since Gregor is the sole breadwinner. Michael hasn’t been working since he lost all his money in NFTs, and Karen is a stay-at-home mom.
When a clerk (Harvey, who plays multiple characters) shows up at the Samsa house and issues Karen a summons to appear in court, the family is thrown into further disarray. Karen has no idea what she’s done. All she’s told is that she’s been “canceled.” She wonders if it’s because she didn’t put her pronouns in her email signature. She confesses that she couldn’t figure out how to do it, and sings, “Nothing prepares you for this, not Oprah or Brené Brown.”
Greta decides to become “a hunger artist” (inspired by Kafka’s “A Hunger Artist,” which chronicles an artist who starves himself in front of spectators) in solidarity with Gregor, who isn’t eating (at least any human food). She chronicles her starvation on TikTok and becomes an instant hit as people not only “like” her page but also send her money. For her father, it’s all getting to be too much—Gregor is a bug, Greta is starving herself, and his wife is now in prison. He agrees that he hasn’t been the best dad, and he springs into action. But not before he goes off on a string of conspiracy theories:
Think about it, why did Gregor turn into a bug? Why was Mom canceled? Why did all of my NFTs lose value? They were a good investment! It’s THEY plotting to destroy hardworking Americans like you and me.
He plucks up his courage to storm the castle (a reference to Kafka’s novel The Castle) to free his wife. However, when he gets there, he is met with so much bureaucratic paperwork that he gives up.
James Harvey plays Franz Kafka and an array of characters from Kafka’s novels. Photographs by Nicolas Arauz.
Ashley Brooke Monroe’s deft directorial pace keeps the musical focused. The actors move well and Sara Gibbons’s upbeat choreography supports the zippy songs. The set design by Taylor Friel creates a living room / bedroom upstage, leaving the downstage area for singing and dancing and the upstage for the family scenes. Lighting (by Bentley Heydt) utilizes shadow to further differentiate between space and time, and Maggie Walsh’s costumes are quirky and colorful, giving the musical a contemporary feel even while exploring Kafka’s early twentieth-century literary landscapes.
Harvey’s take on Kafka is a bit cartoonish, and the many cultural references to cancel culture, Black Lives Matter, “Karens,” NFTs, and the pandemic feel less relevant than even a year ago. But there are moments, like a song about dads (Kafka’s famously tormented relationship with his father is documented in “Letter to My Father”), that are given a soulful and reflective spin:
Dads,
Did life turn out the way they thought it would?
Did they accomplish all the things they thought they could?
Are they depressed?
How can they be so lost when father still knows best?
Kafka’s characters are caught in a senseless bureaucracy. Their situation—the grind of life and its effect on the human spirit—inspires pathos. Although the endless ironic jokes wear thin at times, there is still a lot to enjoy in this show.
Kafkaesque! runs from October 18 through November 10 at Theatre 154 (154 Christopher St., formerly the New Ohio Theatre). Evening performances are on Monday, Friday, and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 5 p.m.; there is an additional show on Thursday, November 7 at 8 p.m. Tickets are available by visiting https://ci.blue.prod.ovationtix.com/34781/production/1208715.
Book, Music, and Lyrics: James Harvey
Direction: Ashley Brooke Monroe
Scenic Design: Taylor Friel
Costume Design: Maggie Walsh
Lighting Design: Bentley Heydt
Choreography: Sara Gibbons
