By A.M. Larks
It was only fitting that the best time in my schedule to see Theatreworks’ production of “Happy Pleasant Valley: A Senior Sex Scandal Murder Mystery Musical” was the matinee performance on Saturday March 15, 2025 amidst a sea of white-haired seniors.
“Happy Pleasant Valley” or “HPV”, as its pithy acronym suggests, is not short of laughs. It is full of witty turns of phrase and interesting juxtapositions, all of which subvert your opinion about what goes on in a senior community--well, most of what goes on in a senior living community.
Threading the line between known and new, HPV’s characters are both nuanced and rounded, and delightfully familiar. The story line centers around June, played by the incomparable Emily Kuroda (of Gilmore Girls fame), whose partners keep mysteriously dropping dead. Threatened with expulsion from the HPV community due to the danger she poses from her cough prowess, her granddaughter, Jade, played by Sophie Oda (of “The Suite Life of Zack and Cody” fame), comes to the rescue. Jade’s actions are self-serving, as she needs to make amends to her social media followers who hold her livelihood in their fickle hands.
The integration of the technology into the play and theatre experience was particularly enticing, as large screens are set up on the side stage which broadcast the events on stage in real time, display graphics, and even provide playback to help uncover the killer. This is a brilliant integration of current cultural norms into the theater experience as well as into the fabric of the play itself. A particularly insightful addition, one assumes, from Director Jeffrey Lo.
The songs reflect what one has come to expect from Kahng’s writing: emotional poignant lyrics (whether funny or tragic) and a catchy tune. Oda’s mezzo and Kuroda’s alto voices shine, not only in their duets but individually. The meddling of two at the apex of the emotional arc was breathtaking. Also of note were any of the songs performed by Miller Liberatore, who played Dean, the non-binary love interest of Jade. The theatricality and timing paired and vocal expertise resulted in pitch perfect performances.
There were some low points in the performance. The costumes were average, the choreography was subpar, at times some of the voices strained to keep up with the demands of the music, the murder plot waned toward the finale, and some of the jokes were predictable. However, the play overall was quite enjoyable and a great accomplishment by all involved. If the point of theatre is to open one’s mind up and subvert expectations, then HPV has done just that. It is not just a play full of senior “dick jokes” but one that tackles the issue of family, relationships, and love as well.
It is no wonder that Theatreworks had chosen to commission this into a full-length work after its premiere in its New Works Festival. One hopes that HPV will continue to live on forever, circling the country, expanding its reach with every new audience.
A.M. Larks’s writing has appeared in Proud to Be: Writing by American Warriors, NiftyLit, Scoundrel Time, Assay: A Journal of Nonfiction Studies, Five on the Fifth, Charge Magazine, and the Brevity, ZYZZYVA, and Ploughshares blogs. She has served as a judge for the Loud Karma Productions’ Emerging Female and Nonbinary Playwriting Award and has performed her stories at Lit Up at Town Hall Theatre in Lafayette, CA. She is the managing editor and blog editor at Kelp Journal. She is the former fiction editor at Please See Me, the former blog editor at The Coachella Review, as well as the former photography editor at Kelp Journal. A.M. Larks earned an MFA in creative writing from UC Riverside at Palm Desert, a JD, and a BA in English literature.