Music and Melody? It Must Be the Mall!

The East Brunswick Young Adult Charity Players know their hometown very, very well.

“Those of us on the board were trying to think of what we could do for a show this year,” said Mike Solomon, a member of the group’s executive board. “We decided to touch on something relevant to this town.

“We touched on a mall.”

The result of this decision is entitled “You Are Here: A Musical Revue,” and sports a subtitle that most East Brunswick residents know all too well to be true: “Many Things Can Happen at a Shopping Mall”.

“The show is a revue style performance with a lot of standalone scenes and numbers,” said Solomon, who also serves as the show’s producer. “There are a couple of different strings tying everything together.”

Director John McLean agrees with this assessment. “There are scenes in the café, department stores, lines for returns. But in the end, we wrap everything up.”

While the writing of the piece was very much a group effort, Solomon and McLean credit Chris Devery as the head writer, responsible for overseeing the project and maintaining the piece’s shape.

“You Are Here” is the latest show in the decade-long history of The Young Adult Charity Players. Every year the group mounts an original show and donates the profits to the , a township recreation program serving special needs members of the community. Over the years, the group has raised over $70,000 for the charity.

While the group sometimes ventures into more ambitious territory for its annual productions, Solomon said the choice to do a revue in 2011 is a practical one.

“This is going to be our 11th show,” Solomon said. “Of them, four or five have been revues. Now we have a new board, a fresh executive board, and we decided we wanted to take a step back, not go for something as intimidating as doing a full show.”

But while a revue may be simpler to get off the ground, audiences should not expect the ‘step back’ to include production value. “It’s so high energy a show,” McLean said. “All of the kids really have a chance to shine.

“Right at the end of each rehearsal we have a meeting to discuss everything we’ve done that night, and tight before that break we run everything we’ve worked on that night. And then you can tell everyone’s feeling the energy. It’s so great.”

This show does mark one first for the group; their first performance on main stage of the East Brunswick Cultural Arts Center’s Cranbury Road complex, a technical luxury of which the show is taking full advantage. “I’m having a lot of fun building sets,” Solomon said. “By the time we’re finished, our set will be over fifteen feet tall.”

“You Are Here” will be performed on Aug. 5 and 6 at 7:30 p.m., and on Aug. 7 at 2 p.m. Tickets may be purchased at the door, but advanced reservations are recommended and come with a discount. Tickets cost $10 when purchased in advance and $12 at the door. For more information on the show, contact the group at 908-812-6132 or ebyacp@hotmail.com.