Hey, emojis There are also emotions.

Symbolizing every lifestyle, emotion, food and sport, these wordless nuggets are used to embellish banal text messages and add a splash of color and individuality. But what will happen to archaic winking emojis as societies and technologies evolve? How about the original simple smile emoji? With each update, static symbols are painted with new coats. The expulsion of certain symbols became metaphorically meaningful.

San Jose Playhouse’s production of “Emojiland” entertainingly and slyly examines these cartoonish cellular characters and their humanity. How does it feel to be a giant pile of poop with a cow face, winks, and even puns galore?

There is a cheerful conversation inside Keith Harrison Dworkin And Laura Schein A creative musical that reflects the creativity of the world, with the magnificent set design of Jon Gourdine and director Scott Guggenheim, creating an intriguing world inside a smartphone, with dazzling projection and graphic work from the hands of Shannon Guggenheim. There’s also a lot of invention, but the excess energy and creativity sometimes makes the show seem long and over-the-top. The music, which contains so much sappy-sweet wit, needs more polish throughout to capture the audience and slap every patron with a big, rosy-cheeked kiss. There are also moments where the lyrics are too simple for their own good.

San Jose Playhouse’s production is a shortened version of the show that premiered in 2010. In New York in January 2020, The original lineup of 14 members folded into a tighter lineup of eight. Despite the limitations of the series, the production is quite entertaining and enjoyable, interspersed with committed performances in a very special style.

The production begins with the Princess (Aeriol Ascher) and the emoji residents preparing for the excitement of the annual update. Version 1.0 is suddenly heading towards version 5.0, with classic emojis getting ready for their upgraded close-ups, powerfully preparing to come and install one of the many flag options they have in their digital universe. The Princess even has a counterpart that’s getting its own update; the aptly named Prince (James Creer), who is just as simple and shallow as she is.

With simplicity comes familiarity. Smiling Face with Smiley Eyes aka “Smize” (Emily Anne Goes) and Smiling Face with Sunglasses aka “Sunny” (Frankie Mulcahy) have been lovers since 1.0. But with every diachronic update comes a new disruptor, and 5.0 introduces its own grumpy hero.

Enter the charming Nerd Face (Tuânminh Albert Ðo). He’s all chic and goofy, trying to find ways to find his place in this new world, full of brilliance and so far with marginal success.

With no established peers, Nerd Face unknowingly moves towards the dark side and aligns himself with the rotten Skull (F. James Raasch), who thrives on such gullibility. With the help of poor pawn Nerd Face, an insider virus is now a credible threat.

While the citizens decide to build a firewall to keep out the newcomers (A King and Queen potentially showing up and usurping the Prince and Princess? No!), the Construction Worker (BrieAnne Alisa Martin) and her partner, the Police Officer (Osher Fine), complain about the walls they should not be built between each other (the creators’ intent is clear).

What works about the production is the diverse performances of the cast; all tasked with bright, shapely titles built with the gorgeous brilliance of Grace Rojas. Each actor portrays multiple characters, some tasked with interpreting up to four, making the show an exercise in dexterity. Ascher and Creer focus heavily on the moments of difference they experience together (the humor in Ascher’s Pile of Poo is rather “weak”), the youth and virtue of the love plot between Goes’ Smize and Ðo’s Nerd Face, the sweetness between them creates the line. It tells subtle truths through the enjoyable dialogues of the book. The subplot love story and conflicts that await Fine and Martin’s characters are some of the best scripts on offer. The strange evils of Sunny and Skull are handled with sharp evil by Mulcahy and Raasch.

“Emojiland reveals there’s plenty of warmth for the emojis inside the mobile phone because, as the song says, “It’s So Wonderful to Be Alive.” And despite every update that comes from our phones offering the promise of an ever-changing technological world, an inverted yellow frown always comes in handy .

‘EMOJILAND’

Book, music and lyrics by Keith Harrison Dworkin and Laura Schein, presented by San Jose Playhouse

From beginning to end: 24 November

Where: 3Below Theatres, 288 S. Second St., San Jose

Running time: 2 hours 20 minutes including intermission

Tickets: $65; 3belowtheaters.com

First Publication Date: October 30, 2024 11:35 PDT