by Mike Hoban
Borrowed Cash: Busted! The Reunion Tour – Written and Performed by Daniel Jenkins and Melissa van der Schyff. Featuring the songs of Randy Newman and Lucinda Williams. Directed by Gina Rattan. Presented by A.R.T. Breakout Series at Oberon, 2 Arrow St., Cambridge through September 23.
As is the case every September, there are a multitude of theatrical productions onstage throughout Greater Boston, but you’d be hard pressed to find any that will rival the unadulterated fun of Borrowed Cash: Busted! The Reunion Tour, now in a limited run at the A.R.T.s Oberon stage. Part “re-union” concert, part multi-media show, it combines edgy comedy with a killer score (courtesy of Randy Newman and Lucinda Williams) to tell the story of Borrowed Cash, a fictional country group.
The production is the brainchild of Broadway vets Daniel Jenkins (Tony Award nominee) and Drama Desk nominee Melissa van Der Schyff (along with director Gina Rattan), who play Harper Stanton and Ann Marie Mayfield, the group’s stars who rocketed to the top of the country charts with songs like “Passionate Kisses” and “Leave Your Hat On”, before it was discovered that the country stars were in fact a British folk duo known the Tea Cozies. They pulled off the ruse by affecting Southern accents, stealing songs, and making up a backstory about being from the Deep South. The band weathered the scandal, but slowly went south themselves, as Harper’s wandering eye and a phone sex addiction broke up the couple – and ultimately, the band.
The pair had not seen each other for 15 years, until fictional film maker Sir Basil Chumsley brought them back together to make a documentary – similar to A&E’s “Behind the Music” – about their rise and fall. The premise is that they’ve come to the intimate cabaret setting of Oberon, the place where they got their start, to deliver “their hits”, re-launch their career – and maybe rekindle the love.
Clips from the film are interspersed between songs and stage banter that quickly devolves into couples therapy minus the referee, and Jenkins and van Der Schyff mine it all for comedy gold. The film segments are a riot, in the vein of This is Spinal Tap, with Jenkins and van Der Schyff playing all of the roles, including the couple’s marriage counselor and an Irish pub owner who knew them when (sample clips can be found here). But it is the musical performances that make Borrowed Cash such a blast.
Lucinda Williams and Randy Newman are greatly underappreciated songwriters – at least by popular music fans – and Jenkins and van Der Schyff infuse the selections with life, rocking out on the up tempo numbers like Williams’ “Joy”, “Righteously” and “Can’t Let Go”, and bringing the real pain of loss with Newman’s “Marie” (Jenkins), “Am I Too Blue” and “I Think It’s Gonna Rain Today” (with van Der Schyff accompanied by cello). There are 18 songs in total in the show, and the backing band (which Ann Marie tells the audience they found on Craig’s List), under the direction of Jacob Fjeldheim, is plenty hot. Borrowed Cash, may not be Hamilton, but damn is it fun – and a heck of a lot cheaper too. For tickets and information, go to: https://americanrepertorytheater.org/shows-events/borrowed-cash/
