(Community Matters) Aaron Brown’s The Secret lives of the Inbetweeners at the Vortex Theatre until March 7.
Jonathan Itchon (foreground) and Rudy Ramirez (photo Flicrk)Michael Mitchell, Robert Torian and I attended tonight’s performance. Left impressed by the breath of Aaron’s work. Aaron’s an old friend with whom I haven’t maintained contact since prior to meeting Steven. He composed and wrote the contemporary, comedy musical – his fifth work produced at the Vortex. Ambitious, complex and concurrently simplistic, The Secret Lives reminded me of RENT’s hipsters and a Mount Olympus farce between step-siblings, as if the son of Kronos and daughter of Prometheus. Aaron kept insisting that the entire work was meant as light fun.
Jonathan Itchon steals the show in his performance as Joe, the nearly lost son of a domineering mother. Fortunately, Prometheus’ daughter wins the bet and the hipsters lives end on an up note. Albeit perhaps a tad complex for its genre, Aaron mostly achieves light and fun. And, he definitely demonstrates an evolving talent in this ambitious work.
Community Matters 