Tre’mon Mills and Quincy Vicks in “Push the Button” at The Keegan Theatre. Photo by Cameron Whitman.
The fast-paced and energetic “Push the Button” is making its world premiere at the Keegan Theatre. The hip-hop musical emerged from Keegan’s Boiler Room Series, an incubator for works by new artists. It has heart and promise, but is in need of further polishing.
…has heart and promise…fun, colorful, and full of sound and motion.
The simple story, which clocks in at just one hour, revolves around two superhero movie archetypes and a supposedly heinous crime. Hero, played with charm and smarm by Quincy Vicks, calls to mind the egomaniacal Homelander from the comic book and TV series “The Boys” (Hero is less murder-y but just as messianic). He is countered by Villain, a merry prankster played with delightful camp by Tre’mon Mills in the style of Cesar Romero and Burgess Meredith from the old “Batman” TV series. (His costume by Imari Pyles is spot on.)
Villain freely and proudly admits to a wide array of offenses, but not the one for which he has been arrested: pushing the button, the ultimate crime in the show’s unnamed city. He has an ally in Ashanti Symone Branch’s Journalist, but Gary DuBreuil’s Judge is only interested in how the high-profile trial might make him a star.
The characters’ backstories and motives are revealed through a half-dozen musical numbers that sample and parody Lil’ Uzi Vert, Billie Eilish, Cardi B, and others. (Yes, this show about whether someone pushed it does sample “Push It” by Salt-N-Pepa.) These numbers are great, as is the choreography by Branch.
In fact, everything that everyone is doing on stage is quite good, as are the sets by Cindy Landrum Jacobs and Matthew J. Keenan and the comic book-style projections by Zavier Augustus Lee Taylor. Director Duane Richards II has done a fine job with the material.
It is that material, however, that needs additional refinement. Co-writers Drew Anderson and Dwayne Lawson-Brown have a lot of big ideas, but they do not fully develop most of them. They are clearly interested in the nature of heroism and villainy, and of the pursuit of truth and justice in a media-driven age, but their message doesn’t amount to much more than “sometimes good guys are bad and bad guys are good.”
There’s also that Button, which is at the center of the show (sometimes literally). It’s a symbol, and opens up the intriguing question of who in a society gets to decide what is and is not a crime. The Journalist character explores that point in one speech, but her remarks trail off without conclusion and the question is never really revisited.
None of this is to say that the show as it stands is not enjoyable. It is. It’s fun, colorful, and full of sound and motion. It’s just that the story needs some work. Several attendees at the premiere were young adults and even younger children, indicating that the writers intended for “Push the Button” to be a young adult piece. (It’s strictly PG, with nary a swear nor an innuendo.) It’s the sort of short, eye-catching, modern theatre piece that could capture the imagination of the next generation of audiences.
Running Time: One hour with no intermission.
“Push the Button” runs through April 7, 2023 at The Keegan Theatre, 1742 Church Street NW, Washington, DC 20036. For more information and to purchase tickets, click here or call 202-265-3767 or in person at the Box Office, which opens on the day of the show one hour prior to the performance. Masks are optional but encouraged for all visitors.
