Paper Plane

Paper Plane is a one-hour musical set in the American Midwest during the Great Depression. Twelve-year-old Joseph hits the rails in a quest to learn the mysterious truth behind his mother’s death; the journey takes him through rail yards, hobo camps, barnstorming exhibitions and carny shows. Through imaginative, energetic direction and clever use of simple props, directors Katie Melby and Eric Holm turn the austerity of the production into an asset, nicely echoing the Dust Bowl setting. Andrew Lynch's music is a lovely collection of catchy bluegrass-pop tunes, and the uniformly talented cast does them justice. (Somehow, a group of just five performers seems like a much larger ensemble.) Paper Plane is as lightweight as its namesake—slim on sets, lighting and plot—but it also isn’t weighed down by the artifacts of overworking. Slickly produced Broadway spectacles can be polished to perfection, yet still seem soulless and unaffecting; this is the opposite case. Through not much to look at, the show has an infectious, confident enthusiasm that makes this Plane soar. (Visit our Fringe Festival page for more reviews, and fringenyc.org for more information.)—Scott Wooledge