Bill Eisenring’s Review of Upside Down at AMT through April 5.  Composer and Book Writer Al Tapper and Book Writer and Book Writer Tony Sportiello.  Direction and Choreography by Taavon Gamble.

Upside Down has what may be an advantage with audiences.  It is a cute, inoffensive musical with decent music, terrific choreography and fine direction.  What it lacks is exceptional voices and a commitment to its premise.

The idea that gays (of all varieties) make up 90% of the world’s population and only 10% identify as heterosexual certainly has potential.  But the writers need to fearlessly show what would be real world heterosexual anti-gay behavior being imposed by the gay population on heterosexuals. This would be behavior supported by the laws and/or authorities. Although anti-hetero sentiments are expressed throughout the show, only two scenes at the beginning of the second act actually show aggressive and violent anti-hetero behavior being performed by gays.  Those scenes held a lot of promise, but they were not capitalized on.  To really make the show resonate, the show needs to show powerful anti-hetero behavior by all gay cast members, including the protagonists Jack and Robert. The show is deeper than DRAG, but does not have a cast of equal talent.

The biggest error that director Taavon Gamble makes is in his casting.  All cast members are exceptional dancers and the choreography is great.  What he did not pay as much attention to was their vocal and acting skills.  Lauren Gemelli has a well-developed voice as does Mike Ferlita (Jack), but the rest of the large cast is adequate, but not strong. Brogan Nelson as the hetero love interest (Tammy) of Jack is intriguing as both an actor and a singer but lacks the experience to make her the star we see some glimmers of.

Some of the writing/casting choices are interesting and may be offensive to some audience members.  We never quite believe that Mike Ferlita’s “Jack Tanner” is gay or Noah Ruebeck’s as the rich, hetero Roger infatuated with Nelson’s Tammy is straight.  Both seem to have gotten their sexual identity through societal pressure rather than a natural affinity.  Jack seems to have conformed to societal norms and Roger gives the impression that his hetero identity is a rebellion against his mother’s aggressive pro-gay position.

A good fun off Broadway show that will supply an evening of solid entertainment.