Super Secret Agent

I was fortunate enough to see a production of a wonderful new musical Sympathy Jones. Now after having seen Kate Shindle in Legally Blonde, I knew that I had to catch her in this new girl power musical. And although it's a work in progress, the pieces that are there already are great.

Sympathy Jones tells the story of a secretary at a spy agency called "The Agency" who wants nothing more than to be a super spy. Then one day when a fellow employee accidently leaves a "Top Secret" folder containing his latest assingment, she jumps into action and helps to unfurl a plot to freeze time and take over Washington DC.

The show was of course a workshop production, but despite some of it's obvious flaws, it has great potential, especially since the era of the "girl power" musical is coming to the forefront of musical theater. The songs were clever and catchy, and the plot was fun.

The performances were amazing, but special credit has to be given to Kate Shindle who belted the role as if she weren't doing 8 shows a week over at Legally Blonde. I am surprised that she could even manage to croak out a note after the vocally demanding "Legally Blonde Remix." If this does get a commercial production, they would be severly mistaken if they did not cast Miss Shindle in the role of Sympathy Jones.

I won't really delve into the bad stuff, because it was a festival show. But it does need some rewrites in order to make the show passable. But for what they have right now it's a good start.