Writer-composer Gordon Stephen Matheson Jr.’s No Matter Watt: Silver is a series of 23 songs dealing with various aspects of recovery performed in under 50 minutes by a cast of 10 including Matheson himself.

Michael Gabiano and Anne Leyden star as Posco Hamwhich and Hope, supported by Linda Alznauer (Annabelle WattTheHell), Ronald Elroy (Bumdinger Chasenipples), Douglas Hartwell (Walpole Dan), Travis Koplow (Our Lady of Perpetual Disappointment), Marcel Licera (Juan Buzzon from Tucson), Cat Miggs (Unruly Jullie), and Kristen Reyes (Sue Rendah), characters with names that are every bit as quirky as Matheson’s mini-musical revue.

Songs deal with such recovery-based topics as loneliness (“Lonely”), optimism (“Things Are Looking Up”), despair (“Dreams Run Away”), giving in (“Surrender”), perseverance (“Keep Coming Back”), and hope (“No Matter Watt”) and at least two or three of them may stick in your head.

 LA. theater favorites Gabiano and Leyden get the lion’s share of songs, though Elroy’s Bumdinger Chasenipples gets to show off some fancy tapping in “Off The Table.”

Steven Vlasak directs No Matter Watt: Silver as a reading, the cast performing in front of music stands, though I’m told that previous No Matter Watts have been more fully staged.

Music director Michael Gonzalez has his performers accompanied by prerecorded tracks.

Anyone who’s been in recovery will surely find much to identify with in Gordon Stephen Matheson Jr.’s No Matter Watt: Silver.

https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/9494

–Steven Stanley
June 24, 2024