Playwright Maury Zeff makes high school seem a lot more exciting than I remember it all those years ago. Yes, many of the old teenage issues and anxieties underlie “Dada Teen Musical: The Play,” but the author’s comedic cleverness takes center stage.
In this two-act entertainment, young preppy Annabelle (convincingly portrayed by Zoe Chien) needs to round out the extracurricular portion of her college application. She comes up with a grandiose scheme to put on a school play. She carefully researches the pursuits of her teacher, Mr. Dorfman (consistently excellent Alan Coyne), and finds he was a lover of Dada — the avant-garde revolutionary art movement of the 1920s. So, she secures his help in producing a Dadaist version of “The Sound of Music”!
To garner the support and cooperation of a large group of students, she needs the help of two definitive types of students, Tyler (Jacob Henrie-Naffaa) and Mariah (Chanel Tighman).
Tyler can lead the student body in any direction he chooses. He’s a captivating combination of Tom Cruise in “Risky Business” and a charming, but definitely shady, tax accountant. His nonstop jive-talking, incessant lying, and constant motion are all accomplished with a broad smile. He’s a fabulous character, and actor Jacob Henrie-Naffaa is exceptional in the role. I would have liked to know more about Tyler’s home life.
The punk Mariah (wonderfully acted by Chanel Tighman) is the other student that Annabelle needs. Mariah represents those who have the maturity and self-knowledge to go their own way in high school. Her song at the end of the play, written by Alex Mandel, is lovely.
“Dada Teen Musical” is enjoyable, if a bit all over the place. Teenagers may not fully understand the convoluted tax schemes that roll off Tyler’s tongue, but they would certainly relish relating to the archetypal students in the comedy. And the moral lessons are clear. Those who misbehave get their comeuppance. “Dada Teen Musical” contains timely themes of corruption, honesty, truthfulness, greed, and the use and misuse of power and position. For adults, instead of reliving the sadness of high school’s social angst, they should be thoroughly entertained by the students’ antics and the deeper messages beneath the fun.
With Gary Graves’ adept direction, and the uniformly first-rate acting, “Dada Teen Musical” is an entertaining evening of theater.
Tickets are $35-45 on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. All remaining tickets are available Friday-Sunday on a sliding scale: $20-$45, starting at noon on the day of the show. Pay-what-you-can on Thursdays. For information and tickets, visit http://centralworks.org/
By Emily S. Mendel
©Emily S. Mendel 2025 All Rights Reserved
