The musical In Trousers relates a story that falls somewhere between coming-of-age and coming-out-during-a-midlife-crisis. Egads! Theatre Company presented the Kansas City premiere at the Off Center Theatre, a frequent home for edgy, smaller scale productions. Though the lyrics were clever and the music interesting (if derivative), the plot was disjointed, the characters were one dimensional, and, in this case, the over-all production was a bit sloppy.
William Finn (The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling
Bee) originally wrote the show in 1979, and then reworked it in 1985. The revised version featured almost constant singing, especially in the first act, and relied on the strength of the performers to build the story and maintain a consistent pace. Fortunately, director Steven Eubank has an amazing cast, a talented young crew comprised of Jared Hill (Marvin), Molly Denninghoff (Wife), Katie Karel (Sweetheart), and Shelby Floyd (Miss Goldberg). They managed to bring some life to the flat and rather unlikable characters.
Proust Eats a Sandwich 
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