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System Eternal

nytheatre.com review by Stan Richardson
August 15, 2005

In his play with music System Eternal, Chance D. Muehleck has taken great care in creating an elaborate futuristic reality—a corrupt crime-ridden town called Eternal filled with cons, murderers, and a few people who seem simply lower class. Below the town is an underworld that hosts a quasi-police force which dictates punishment for the crimes committed above. But George Enemy, the scatterbrained softie of a boss, has hired a new right-hand-man, the nefarious Agent Fix, whose intended policies are about to make the present place seem like Disney World.System Eternal, however, is organized around a murder—that of Enemy’s new liberally-politicked wife, Catherine Promise. The first act is about the after-effects of Catherine’s death (her brother Bill may or may not have been framed; Agent Fix is handling the investigation in a curious way). The second act shows what led up to Catherine’s death (she wants her husband to pardon Bill; Agent Fix wants Catherine out of the way).Muehleck spends so much time trying to show us a complete world—its lingo, its customs, its culture. But without a satisfying mystery—the whodunnit is as obvious as the whydunnit is underexplored—his efforts fall on indifferent ears. The experience is rather like being made to learn a computer program without being told its practical use. There is a lot of intelligent thought in this play, but the real drama is diluted. The cast is adequate, but don’t seem involved with or taken by the narrative. Director Melanie S. Armer does little to clarify the events, nor does she pull forth whatever humor the script contains: instead the tone is wan. The band performs the songs with a strong display of musicianship (Tony Finn is the composer), but their presence (like the songs) seems superfluous.I suspect System Eternal means to be an allegory about our current administration or our criminal justice system. And though it is muddy now, I suspect that Muehleck will hone this piece in the future or will write an entirely new play that will display his intellectual gifts while giving his audience something to feel about.