Over the Valentine’s Day weekend, Oberlin Musical Theater Association (OMTA) presented a two-hour twisting and turning tale of sincerity and silliness: Team StarKid’s theatrical production, The Trail to Oregon. The show offers an entertaining musical experience based on the iconic video game The Oregon Trail. With music direction by Ruby McKeever, its strengths are in the original songs as well as the audience participation that allows the crowd to choose the main characters’ names—and decide who dies of dysentery.
The plot follows a family’s conflicts as they travel west to Oregon. The Mother is pragmatic, the Father naive, while their two kids and Grandpa somehow avoid the seriousness of their situation through obliviousness. Their journey, already difficult, is further thwarted by “The Bandit King,” McDoon, who steals their Daughter in an attempt to force her to marry him.
Artistic Director, Sarah Storace Nelson, showed dedication and passion for the material, as well as an understanding of their cast members’ strengths. Megan Beehler and Wesley Brubaker are the powerhouse song-heavy leads as Mother and Father. Many of Brubaker’s songs are upbeat and punchy, showing off his classic musical theater chops, heard through riffs in “The Grind.” While Beehler, whose breathy tone is built for ballads, floats through ethereal melodic lines like a fairy. This, however, does not negate her possession of powerful pipes, displayed in the vulnerable and rapturous “When the World’s at Stake.”
Cloude Fewkes and Talia Richer as Daughter and Son deliver just as enthralling performances, based in acting more than singing. Fewkes provides a bright mix-belt at the top of Act II in “Lost Without You,” while Richer’s acting carries the bulk of the production’s humor. She closes out the production by delivering on her show-long joke in the final number “Naked in a Lake.”
Phin Samdperil as “The Bandit King” McDoon—and “Everyone Else”—brings a unique skill to the production through his ability to perform a variety show of random characters. His personality is clearly suited to the task, and the lack of their variation highlights the absurdity of the multi-cast. In addition to “Everyone Else,” he somehow manages to make McDoon both sensual and serious while also being very silly. The result feels like an American Western heartthrob mixed with Alex Brightman’s iteration of Beetlejuice.
At best, the show’s compositional style is a blend of music theater and Grand Ole Opry, which attempts to capture the flavor of “Western Frontier America.” The biggest ingredient is the orchestration of banjo (Emily Zinner), guitar (Heyu Wang), electric bass (Bobby Fasciano), and drum kit (Nadia Saltz).
Songs that capture the core musical essence include “Caulk the Wagon,” “Dysentery World,” and “Speedrun,” which maintain energy without falling too far into either of its genre influences. Here, the instrumental backgrounds shine just as much as the vocals, despite not being glamorously complex.
The rhythm section, including pianist Emma Li, keeps repetitive vamps exciting through phrasing and interplay—even if the composed music reminds one of JackBox Games’ “Quiplash” soundtrack. However, “Pays to Be an Animal” (sung by Cec Ganz as Grandpa), “Independence!,” and the opening, “Gone to Oregon,” lean a bit too deeply into the “Frontier” sound. The military snare drum and bass “oohm-pahs” are initially immersive, but eventually exhausting—something that Saltz and Fasciano would likely agree with.
On the whole, OMTA’s production of The Trail to Oregon was exciting, talent-packed, and easily the funniest part of my weekend, thriving on the strengths of its cast and crew while remaining rooted in the original material of the show.
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