"Fingers and Toes" was the sixth of nine musicals in the inaugural season of the Finger Lakes Musical Theatre Festival in Auburn, NY.
The good: The musical is a "let's put on a show" story with a twist. I won't give away the end. There are only three characters - Tristan "Fingers" St. Claire (Ian Lowe), Dustin "Toes" McGrath (Danny Gardner), and Molly Molloy (Deidre Haran) - and each requires a broad range of skills. I'm always incredibly impressed when an actor not only acts and sings, but also plays the piano on stage. Here, "Fingers" is required not just to play the piano, but to be the entire accompaniment, and to play in all manner of styles. Throw in some tap dancing (and there's plenty of it here), some witty lyrics, and actually believable character development, and you have an extremely entertaining evening. It didn't hurt that all three actors were extremely talented. As fantastic as they all were, however, looking at the program one could be forgiven for being slightly disappointed that they weren't all sick; the understudy for "Fingers" is the composer himself, the understudy for Molly is the choreographer, and the understudy for "Toes" seems to be the assistant everything.
The not-so good: Auburn is a bit of a hike from Rochester, so going to this theatre makes for a very long day or evening out. However, there is enough to do in the area to make this a reason to stay the night. Both the Harriet Tubman House and the Seward House Museum are nearby and worth the hour-long tour each provides.
The bottom line: Based on the opening night performance of Fingers and Toes, written and directed by Logan Medland, let's hope it's the first of many seasons to come.
For more information on the Theatre Festival:
http://fingerlakesmtf.com/
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