Review: Revised ‘Emojiland’ musical in San Jose not perfect but worthy of a smiley face
Hey, emojis have feelings too.
Those non-verbal nuggets symbolizing every lifestyle, emotion, food, and sport are used to dress up banal text messages, throwing in splashes of color and individualism. Yet as societies and technologies evolve, what will become of the archaic winking-face emoji? How about the original simple smile emoji? With every update, static symbols get fresh coats of paint. Relegation of certain symbols has become metaphorically relevant.
San Jose Playhouse’s production of “Emojiland” examines these cartoonish cellular characters and their humanity in fun and crafty ways. How does it feel to be the nerd face, the winker, or even a huge pile of poop replete with puns galore?
There is some joyous chatter in Keith Harrison Dworkin and Laura Schein’s inventive musical that crafts a compelling world inside a smartphone, with a fantastic set design by Jon Gourdine and director Scott Guggenheim that reflects the world’s creativity, with scintillating projection and graphic work from the hands of Shannon Guggenheim. And there is plenty of invention as well, but an excess of energy and creativity at times makes the show feel long and overdone. The music, with loads of sappy-sweet wit, needs more polish throughout to grab hold of the audience and slap a big, rosy-cheek filled smooch on each patron. There are also moments when the lyrics themselves are too basic for their own good.
San Jose Playhouse’s production is a shortened version of the show that premiered in January of 2020 in New York, the original cast of 14 members folded into a tighter cast of eight. Despite the show’s limitations, the production is quite fun and delightful, interspersed with committed performances within a very specific style.
The production kicks off with Princess (Aeriol Ascher) and the denizens of emoji citizens readying for the thrill of the annual update. Version 1.0 moves toward version 5.0 in a flash, classic emojis readying for their upgraded closeup, prepping mightily to come in and plant one of many flag options they have inside their digital universe. There’s even a counterpart to Princess that’s getting his own update, the aptly named Prince (James Creer) who’s just as basic and shallow as she.
With simplicity comes familiarity. That’s the case with Smiling Face with Smiling Eyes, or, “Smize” (Emily Anne Goes) and Smiling Face with Sunglasses, aka “Sunny” (Frankie Mulcahy), sweethearts since 1.0. But with every diachronic update comes a new disruptor, and 5.0 offers up its own grumpy hero.
Enter charming Nerd Face (Tuânminh Albert Ðo). He’s all dapper and dope, looking for ways to find his place in this new world chock-full of brightness, with marginal success so far.
With no built-in peer, Nerd Face moves toward the dark side, unwittingly, aligning with the putrid Skull (F. James Raasch), who preys on such gullibility. A virus from within, with help from poor pawn Nerd Face, is now a credible threat.
While the citizens decide to build a firewall to keep out newcomers (A King and Queen potentially showing up and usurping Prince and Princess? No!), the Construction Worker (BrieAnne Alisa Martin) and her partner Police Officer (Osher Fine) bemoan that walls should not be built between each other (the intention of the creators beyond obvious).
What works well in the production are the varied performances of the cast, all tasked to function with bright, shapely headpieces constructed with mighty sheen by Grace Rojas. Every cast member takes on multiple characters, some tasked with interpreting up to four, making the show an exercise in dexterity. Ascher and Creer lean in heavily to their moments of variance together (the humor within Ascher’s Pile of Poo is quite “punny”), while the youth and virtue of the love plot between Goes’ Smize and Ðo’s Nerd Face builds up their sweet arc with subtle truths through the book’s delightful dialogue. The subplot love story, and the conflicts that await Fine and Martin’s characters are some of the best writing offered. And the quirky evils of Sunny and Skull are handled with sharp devilishness by Mulcahy and Raasch.
“Emojiland makes the case that there’s plenty of warmth for emojis inside a cell phone, because, as the song says, “It’s So Great to Be Alive.” And despite every update that comes through our phones, offering up the promise of an ever-changing technological world, a basic yellow frown turned upside down always does the trick.
‘EMOJILAND’
Book, music and lyrics by Keith Harrison Dworkin and Laura Schein, presented by San Jose Playhouse
Through: Nov. 24
Where: 3Below Theaters, 288 S. Second St., San Jose
Running time: Two hours, 20 minutes with an intermission
Tickets: $65; 3belowtheaters.com