Crazy Head Space

From “Addiction” to “Zoophilia,” Crazy Head Space, the premiere production of nascent theater company Abraxas provides a musical interpretation for an alphabet’s worth of psychiatric disorders. Though its efforts to be all encompassing stretch the production a little thin, the talented cast is the best part of the production.

Reviewed by Ilena George

Pulling diagnoses from the DSM IV and covering a variety of musical genres, Crazy Head Space is a literal A(dditction) to Z(oophilia) revue of mental disorders. Like the eclectic (bordering on overly eccentric) costumes and make-up, each letter’s song doesn't always quite fit into a cohesive whole. For instance, some of the numbers play up the seriousness of mental illness--from the hollow emptiness of borderline personality disorder to the self-destructive compulsions that drive eating disorders--while others are more celebratory of life on the tail ends of the Gaussian distribution, including a hilarious and colorful ode to "shop[ping] without a wallet" in "Kleptomania."

The sections caught between the lights and darks of disorders end up coming off badly. For example, in “Relapse,” the humor isn't dark enough to keep the jokes from feeling a little too easy (a recovering alcohol turns to vodka to solve the problem of her overbearing mother’s visiting)-- and it takes the really kooky numbers to “even out” the show, as with “Vagina Envy” (“God lost her genius when/She made the penis”). It’s not exactly subtle, but that’s when Crazy Head Space is at its best, for then it strongly evokes a mood or a feeling, exploring the way mental disorders can entrap and confine, or celebrating people who push the envelope of what's expected.

Despite a huge cast (brimming with talented singers and dancers), the small space makes for an intimate production. However, if the point is to put a human face to some mental diseases (as shown in the closing number), where is the humanity? There’s no bridge between the scenes (only wacky off-stage muttering), and that limits the evening to a characterless revue. Crazy Head Space is a varied and somewhat unpredictable romp through a wide range of mental disorders, but it needs to work on those side effects.
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Crazy Head Space
Directed by Errickson Wilcox
Lyrics by Elisabeth S. Davis, Music by Elisabeth S. Davis and Michelangelo Sosnowitz
March 6th-April 5th
@ Seaport! (210 Front Street at Beekman Street)
For tickets: www.dogrunrep.org