Entertain Me

1980 by Todd Cardin, Todd Cardin plays -

This is a review of the Todd Cardin play "1980" that recently ran at Upper Merion High School, King of Prussia, Pa. For more info about the play visit their website at www.1980theplay.com

Todd Cardin's "1980" - By Cynthia Johnson

Once in a great while, a new play comes along that is not only worth seeing, but immediately deserves consideration as one of the best works in theater in recent years. Todd Cardin's 1980, performed by ETC Theater at Upper Merion High School, is one of those plays.

Magically set in a Philadelphia suburb ,1980 plots the events from New Years Eve 1980 to New Years Day 1981. The play brilliantly weaves a news team, a diary, a group of teens, photographs, video, audio and a kick ass group of musicians.

The main character, Allison (played masterfully by Cardin's youngest daughter Elizabeth) turns thirteen years old one minute into the new year. The story follows her life during the course of a full year.

1980 is a coming of age story in the truest sense of the word. We see the young characters grow up on stage in front of our very eyes. We see these almost real people evolve while they deal with life, death, illness, and sex. The musical is able to pull all of this off amazingly with an innocence that is missing in theatre today. Cardin has a unique view of the world and expresses it so eloquently, yet so real.

For a script centered almost entirely around teens, the dialogue and action depicted are completely fluid, natural, and engaging. Even a staged reading of this play would captivate an audience; but under Emily Cardin's (Todd's wife) sharp direction not a moment passes on that is unnecessary. The director allows the plot’s twists and revelations to unfold as naturally as the dialogue, handling a walk down memory lane with the deftness and precision of a history book. This is not an easy task considering that many members of the cast were making their stage debut.

The writing was remarkable and every cast member was able to shine. Every scene was important and memorable. Two very magical scenes stood out. The Babysitter's Here featuring (another Cardin daughter) Esther, Tony Geradi, Emily McCann and Alberto Baker was one of the most perfectly balanced scenes that I have ever witnessed on stage.

The acting, writing and directing here was remarkable. The other was Help, which chronicled the death of John Lennon. Mike Ridgeway and Emily Cardin shined here as the newscasters. I literally had the chills when they read the news. As the news ended Todd Cardin himself sang a slowed down version of Lennon-McCartney's "Help" accompanied beautifully on guitar by Nicolas D'Alleva and Tom Pappanastiou.

Vocally, Maria D'Alleva ruled the evening. She was energetic and flawless but Todd's version of Help was extremely effective and a nice change of pace. Maria, Nick and Tom combined talents recording a very catchy tune (written by Cardin) called Summer's Here. If not for the pathetic state of pop music, this would be a hit single.

The music here was wonderful, who cared that some of the songs ran on a bit long, they were fun to hear.
The cast all deserved kudos. Philip Poche and Nolan Campbell have small but memorable roles. Emily Poche and Marnie Norris were hilarious as a pair of tom boys. Brittany Hood and Melissa D'Alleva play a confused daughter and her young single mother. Steven Wildemann was brilliant as a boy recovering from leukemia. Nick Pedano, Megan Lindsay and Kalen Backe played the tough kids, who were brought into the group. Liz Backe was wonderful and Paul Valenti stole the show with some memorable lines. In a very understated performance Victoria Burdo played perfectly an Olympic caliber ice skater. Even the one character that could have been generic (Sam, the optimist) was rescued by a solid performance by Emily Deller. The cast entire cast was perfect.

Todd Cardin is the best playwright around today. Period. Even those in the theatre community who resented him are starting to admit it. 1980 was so unique and memorable and appealed to everyone in the audience both (very) young and old. I laughed, I cried and saw the year through a whole new set of eyes.