Audiences in search of something excitingly original where musical comedies are concerned need look no further than Found, the latest from IAMA Theatre Company.

A cross between a plot-based musical comedy and a cycle of thematically linked songs (with an emphasis on the latter), Found takes as its inspiration the discarded notes featured in Found Magazine, scraps of paper with messages like this one: “Dear Ron things haven’t been the same since we found out we were related.” And this one: “I hit the back of your car people are watching, I ain’t payin’ for shit.”

And the one that started it all for Found creator Davy Rothbart: ““Mario, I fucking hate you…,” left on his car by someone who had clearly mistaken Davy’s roadster for a certain Mario’s, a discovery that got Davy (Jonah Platt) to thinking.

What if he were to start collecting anonymous notes like these and do something with them, like publish a magazine, or read them aloud open-mike-style at a coffee house or club?

Unfortunately for Davy, the nightspot in question is about to be torn down and (shades of Joni Mitchell) a parking lot put up in its place, which is why audience members at Found (The Musical) have been invited to celebrate Davy’s magnum opus one last time before the wrecking ball puts to end to his dream and those of Mikey D (Mike Millan), his brother, and Denise (Jordan Kai Burnett), the woman Davy loved and apparently lost because tonight, despite the significance of the occasion, she is nowhere to be found.

Flashbacks soon reveal the reasons behind Denise’s absence, among them a certain Becka (Karla Mosley), about whom nothing more will be revealed here, as Davy, Denise, and Mikey D navigate romantic/professional adventures (and misadventures) in Chicago and Hollywood, their personal stories alternating with scribbled notes brought to musical life by multi-taskers Sheila Carrasco, Parvesh Cheena, Desi Dennis-Dylan, Tom DeTrinis, Zehra Fazal, and Ryan Garcia.

Though the Found’s two-and-a-half-hour running time could probably use a trim (maybe not down to an intermissionless ninety-minutes but at least to a length better suited to a song-cycle with only a bit of a plot), there’s no denying the musical’s many charms, from Hunter Bell and Lee Overtree’s ingenious book to a Eli Bolin’s tuneful melodies and clever original lyrics to the messages themselves which the composer-lyricist has set to music.

“Old Country Buffet” (“I like Old Country because when I went whit [sic] my brother and the food was very cold, so I got mad and told them to get me some hot ass food but the man did not no speaking England so I got up and got my own food.”), “Girlfriend Wanted” (“Qualifications are: height of at least five foot eleven inches, slim or broad build, needs to look like a mix between Charlize Theron, Carmen Electra, and Susan Boyle.”), and “Cats Are Cats” (“Lions are cats, tigers too. Cats are cats! They are usually orange.”) are among Found’s couple dozen songs, the latter of which inspires one of choreographer Kathryn Burns’ multiple scrumdiddlyumptious dance sequences, including one humdinger of a Bob Fosse shoutout.

With Tony-nominated (Hand To God) Moritz von Stuelpnagel directing with supreme imagination and flair on Sibyl Wickersheimer’s thrillingly designed immersive-experience nightclub set backed by Yee Eun Nam’s electrifyingly executed non-stop projections of animated notes in the writers’ real handwriting, Found features as stellar an ensemble (all of them L.A.-based) as can be found on either coast.

Platt’s handsome, charismatic Davy and Burnett’s darkly compelling Denise make for a pair of pitch-perfect opposites-attract leads, Millan’s gay-stereotype-defying Mikey D (a shaggy-haired charmer if their ever was one), and Mosley’s appealing fly-in-the-ointment Becka are all four absolutely splendid, and as vocally gifted as they get, and Carrasco, Cheena, Dennis-Dylan, dance captain DeTrinis, Fazal, and Garcia show off bona-fide triple-threat gifts throughout in assorted cameos, costumes, and wigs.

Sharing design honors with Wickersheimer and Nam are costumer Tilly Grimes for her eclectic mix of grunge and fantasy wear, Daniel Weingarten for his dazzling lighting, and Michael O’Hara for dozens upon dozens of meticulously handwritten notes.

Kudos go too to musical directors Frank Galgano and Matt Castle, the latter of whom conducts and plays keyboards in Found’s rock-concert-ready four-piece band*, with Cricket S. Myers providing her accustomed expert sound design mix aided by sound engineer Hannah Cairo.

Found is produced by Lexi Sloan. Celestial Zenith is associate producer. Rhonda Kohl is associate director. Rachel Manheimer is production stage manager, Matthew Fink is stage manager, and Trevor Lee is assistant stage manager.

Casting is by Jordan Bass, CSA. Andy Arena, Sarah Busic, dance captain Bailey Humiston, Collin Leydon, Natalie Llerena, and TJ Norton are understudies.

Over the past dozen years, the artists who make up IAMA Theatre Company have established their membership company as one of L.A. absolute finest. With last year’s Canyon about to be restaged as part of Center Theatre Group’s Block Party 2020 and their latest revealing the troupe to be every bit as gifted at song and dance, IAMA is on a roll, proof positive of which can be found in Found, as original (and entertaining) a new musical as original new musicals get.

Los Angeles Theatre Center (LATC), 514 South Spring Street, Los Angeles.
www.thelatc.org
www.iamatheatre.com

–Steven Stanley
February 20, 2020
Photos: Jeff Lorch

Tags: Davy Rothbart, Eli Bolin, Hunter Bell, IAMA Theatre Company, Lee Overtree, Los Angeles Theater Review, Los Angeles Theatre Center