‘Escape to Margaritaville’ is true escapist fare at The Bushnell
For those seeking only escapist fare as they return to live theater, the show that actually has “Escape” in its title is a safe bet. “Escape to Margaritaville” at The Bushnell in Hartford is exactly what you expect a show based on Jimmy Buffett songs to be like. It’s like “Mamma Mia,” except with pop songs that are a much more sensible soundtrack to fun in the sun on a picturesque island paradise.
It’s a love story between Rachel, an environmental scientist, and Tully, a slacker bar singer. She schools him on low-carbon energy, he teaches her three chords on a guitar. They both have friends, Tammy and Brick, and they fall in love too.
Brick, the big goofy bartender played here by Peter Michael Jordan, is spiritual kin to Jody McCrea’s “Bonehead” character from the classic Beach Party movies, and Tully (Chris Clark) isn’t a far cry from Frankie Avalon in those same films. He’s a slacker who’s got an easy gig as a singer at the Margaritaville hotel on a Caribbean island, the type of hero whom everyone tells all the time how talented he is.
Tammy (2019 Hartt School grad Emily Qualmann) is using the trip as a last hurrah before she gets married to her psychologically abusive boyfriend Chad; she’s planning to flirt a bit before returning to Ohio to settle down.
There are older characters too, who offer sage advice to the young’uns, including the hallowed Buffet rhetorical philosophical query “Why Don’t We Get Drunk...” The audience is all too willing to finish the famous phrase.
Rachel (Sarah Hinrichsen) is the most complex character, idealistic and career-driven and bad at relationships. Seeing her learn to loosen up is the main dramatic arc of the musical. But then, Jimmy Buffett songs are meant to be leisurely and low-intensity. Low drama is what’s required,