Safety Not Guaranteed -21 September 2024

This indie rock musical brought a lot of interesting ideas, underscored with a rich, vocal idea that was beautifully mixed to keep every word crisp and clear. Composer Ryan Miller had consistent motifs running throughout, at times layered on top of each other. The sound designer (Drew Levy) and A1 did a fantastic job of helping the audience understand a different character’s perspective in every repetition.

Safety Not Guaranteed was thoroughly enjoyable to watch at the moment, but a lot of the issues brought up by book writer Nick Blaemire were not sufficiently developed to take the show to a level where audiences could connect emotionally. I was interested in Darius’s (Nkeki Obi-Melekwe) statement about befriending someone for the purpose of praying, but that line turned out to be a throwaway, which disappointed me.

Other throwaway ideas include Kenneth’s (Taylor Trensch) perception of the car crash. Did he have brain damage and really believe that Belinda was dead? If not, what was his real intention with all of the time travel equipment? This was the crux of the article that was the impetus of the story, so why was this never resolved? Was the car crash a suicide attempt? Did he want to have never driven the car or to have accomplished his goal of killing Robbie or to have died in a fatal crash? These questions were too heavy for the format of this musical, but answering them would’ve taken it to the next level. I understood the characters, but I didn’t feel them.

The score was excellent, as well as all of the performances. But keeping it light was a mistake, because it prevented the emotional connection that would’ve made this musical memorable. It is three songs that broke deeper into the human psyche away from effectively engaging, and if that necessitates an intermission, so be it. The music is good enough to keep people enjoying the show. Three songs, I’d add would be: Arnau (Rohan Kymal), discovering Kenneth’s brain damage, a power ballad from Darius about losing her mom as a motif from the beginning, and an intimate song of insecurity while Darius weighed and considered betraying Kenneth.

Some concepts that shine are moments with multiple scenes playing out in parallel and duets being sung across situations, the different definitions of time and why people want to go back (or forward), strong musical choices including deliberate dissonance, the captivating integration of audio samples of my music, and the pervasive spirit of adventure.

Safety Not Guaranteed is worth a visit if you like, a fun, light, indie, sci-fi, musical. Go back in time to buy your tickets yesterday! This is not a joke.

I did not attend this performance on a press pass.