Bob Manzo, Robert Bowen Smith, Christina Day, Daniel Mori, Clayton Pelham Jr., Diane Samuelson, Madeline Key, Jon Jon Johnson (DJ Corey Photography)

By DCist contributor Seth Rose

Fondness for the 90’s has reached a fever pitch in recent years, and the artists of Flying V Theatre don’t appear to be immune to the bug. Be Awesome: A Theatrical Mixtape of the 90’s is their love letter to the decade, but it’s much more than a simple appeal to nostalgia. The company has created a show that captures the feel of the decade for those who grew up in it without alienating those who didn’t.

The only drawback to the show is mismatched marketing; anyone seeking a lighthearted 90’s cabaret is likely to walk away profoundly disappointed. While it does consist mainly of a series of scenes set to popular 90’s ballads (referred to as “live action music videos”), most of the action doesn’t have anything to do with the 90’s at all. Instead, they document the memories of Jonas Park, who we are informed at the start is dying from incurable brain cancer. We see him grow from a child to a married man over the course of the show, with each milestone playing out in a scene and paired to a specific song.

It’s an unexpected choice that takes some time to establish itself, but when it does, the payoff is devastating. Park’s story is tragic, and by having it play out through music that many people already have their own emotional connections to, his pain and love comes through much clearer than it would in a simpler show. The whiplash between scenes of drama and comedy can be exhausting at times, but each scene works well on it’s own and as part of Park’s story because the musical connections are so effective.

Be Awesome brings a lot more to the table than just music, though. The level and diversity of raw talent on display is so consistently impressive. Scenes contain everything from puppetry work to dance to juggling and even live music; Radiohead’s “Creep,” Des’ree’s “You Gotta Be,” and KRS-One’s “A Friend” are all performed on stage. Meanwhile, each of the cast of 10 plays a number of different characters between scenes with a dizzying number of quick costume changes to match. Flying V has always been a company that prides themselves on the technical and physical skill of their actors, and that skill helps elevate the story to brilliant heights.

According to writer and director Jason Schlafstein, Be Awesome has been in development for over four years, and it shows. This is a tightly produced, delightfully offbeat production that recognizes why people love the 90’s in the first place. It isn’t just the music or the cartoons or the fashion that triggers such incorrigible nostalgia, it’s the fact that all those things are associated with memories (fond or otherwise). By framing their revue directly against a series of more human memories instead of a bulleted list of pop culture, Flying V extracts the emotion of 90’s music and builds a show that will have staying power beyond nostalgia. There is no more worthy production to share a title with part of Flying V’s motto: “Expect Awesome, Be Awesome.”

Be Awesome runs through October 9 at The Writer’s Center, 4508 Walsh Street
Bethesda, MD. Buy tickets here.