Fine, Thanks: It's Ok Not to Be Fine
Fine, Thanks @ C Venue
Created from hours of interviews, Fine, Thanks is a verbatim musical that covers the world of mental health in young adults. Although we have started to break ground on mental health as a field, this show proves that there is still work to be done. As a someone who deals with significant anxiety and someone with loved ones who struggle with other mental health issues, this show resonated with me.
Although some of the testimonials are not new ground, it somehow feels more powerful coming from the mouths of young adults. The cast of Fine, Thanks couldn’t be older than 20; this is such a significant step forward to treating mental health issues before they become major health problems. As mental health goes, at least in the states, if you do not have a severe mental health problem your mental health could be undiagnosed for YEARS because you just don’t look sick or people think you’re faking it. So, I believe that it is extremely healthy for a cast of this age to explore this research and testimonials to better serve kids reaching out for help. This show would be a great tool to take to schools to further educate and illuminate the facts that mental health is important and that you are not weak or somehow less than because you seek help.
Verbatim musicals are so difficult to write, as you have to take people’s actual dialogue and 1) form them into a narrative arc that makes sense and 2) create compelling songs; for an hour show, LUND creates a successful first go at this challenging genre. The through line with the teenage boy tying the scenes together helps to cohesively compile the different viewpoints LUND collected on this subject. The songs are very moving, however too few and far between. The show relies more on spoken dialogue than song, and I wish that they pushed for more musical moments. Music is such a cathartic medium, and with the subject matter at hand, there was a missed opportunity to emote the material gathered. The sound was an issue as well as the cast was not amplified in any way, and the venue was quite large. When cast members would travel upstage or sing over live instruments, you lost a lot that was said. However, the cast was excellent and had some of the best voices I heard all Fringe; with harmonies that melted like butter. Also, the cast played all of the instruments used to underscore the show as well. I wished that they had incorporated the violin more as those sections were gorgeous.
Fine, Thanks should carry on looking into school communities to reach kids and parents who are dealing with conflicting opinions surrounding mental health or who are finding it difficult starting a conversation with their child about their mental health. Fine, Thanks indeed sends the message that it is ok to have these thoughts and there’s nothing wrong with seeking help; that is always a message worth hearing, especially in song.
4 STARS
