Love: it's a powerful word in and of itself. It makes you cry, it brings you guaranteed satisfaction, it's impossible to fight the feeling of it. No use trying to hide from it. Can't get around it, you have to accept it. In the very first play put on by the Endicott College Drama Club students, the theme of love and how it swirls all around us is explored with fourteen songs from a myriad of Broadway musicals.
In case you're wondering what we Drama Club kids have come up within the past six weeks, Lucky in Love is a story of a group of people living in a suburb, while trying to figure out the complexities of love, both positive and negative. They don't just deal with romance, they deal with family ties, but they each have circumstances that make each of them unique. Oh, and I can't forget luck. Throughout the play, the twenty-eight various characters, portrayed by all sixteen members of the club, myself included, had some dinner at Nikko Palace, which always comes with a fortune cookie. It doesn't matter if they ate in or took out, they still got a fortune cookie. Inside each cookie is a fortune, loosely related to the song performed by each ensemble.
The show opens with Evan and Zoe of Dear Evan Hansen in "Only Us", discussing their relationship after Connor's devastating suicide, while downtown, Dogfight's Eddie Birdlace, and his beau Rose Fenny go on a dinner date in "First Date/Last Night". Elsewhere, the street rat Aladdin wants to prove to his deceased parents what he can be in "Proud of Your Boy", while Tracy Turnblad tries to get her mother Edna's permission for a night out with friends with Hairspray's "Mama, I'm a Big Girl Now". At a factory in the industrial park, Kinky Boots' "History of Wrong Guys" looks at Lauren's growing attraction for Charlie, while at Joe's Diner, Dr. Pomater and Jenna ponder the affair that's resulted in the latter's pregnancy in "You Matter to Me". At SpongeBob (portrayed by me) and Patrick's apartment, they muse about lifelong friendship during a video game binge in "BFF".
In another part of town, Dawn and Becky anticipate a date for the former with the song "When He Sees Me", given that it's the former's, first true boyfriend. At a high school with the Plastics, Cady, Karen, and Gretchen put aside their differences caused by the notorious Regina George in "I See Stars", and Sue and Tommy affirm their love in "You Shine" before accompanying Carrie to prom. Meanwhile, somewhere dark in town, The Addams Family pulls a William Tell with "Crazier Than You", and Seymour and Audrey fall in love working at the flower shop in "Suddenly, Seymour". In preparation for a wedding, twins Daisy and Violet find solace in each other with "I Will Never Leave You", and the show closes with every character singing "What I Did for Love" at Nikko's Palace.
Overall, this student-written production takes your favorite musical theatre songs and displays them in a new light, focusing on the trials and tribulations of love. You can catch Lucky in Love on Saturday, October 13th, with two matinees at 2:00 PM and 7:30 PM, so after you see the EC Gulls in action on the gridiron and on the soccer field, come on down to the Rose for an astounding love story!
