Book by
Greta Ferrell &
Joan Jenkins
Music & Lyrics by
Michael Gott

The result is All STRESSED Up With Nowhere To Go.  In July of 2001, Dallas got its first look at the new musical as Greta and Joan along with Denise Lee and Carol Farabee took the stage at the Festival of Independent Theaters at the Bath House Cultural Center.  Critics and audiences agreed on two things:  It was great fun.  Now let's see the whole show. 

In the Spring of 2002, they got their chance.  TFM Productions staged the world premiere of the full-length show to sold-out houses and rave reviews.  Where will "Stressed" go next?  Keep checking here to find out!

By TOM SIME / The Dallas Morning News 

Humor, songs sharp in TFM Productions debut 
 

The characters in TFM Productions' new musical All Stressed Up With Nowhere to Go will never have it all. But their show does. 
That is, everything but male characters and a strong ending. The absence of the former is hardly missed, and that of the latter proves a minor disappointment after an evening of pointed hilarity and effervescent tunes. 
The show, seen Saturday in its world premiere at the Trinity River Arts Center, was sneak-previewed in a condensed form at the Festival of Independent Theatres last summer. This is its full-length debut, and the beautifully designed, acted and sung production bodes well for a long life in theaters starved for roles for women in their 40s. Not that these characters will necessarily make patrons in their 40s feel good about themselves. 

In the book by director Greta Muller Ferrell and Joan Jenkins, four harried modern women end up stuck together in an elementary-school classroom. 

Always-nice Marcy (Denise Lee) is a housewife and mother headed to a Christian parents' meeting. Comely Lisa (Carol Farabee), a five-time trophy wife, is there for a Mary Kay klatch. Pedantic Lou (Ms. Jenkins), a divorced college professor, believes she's at an Amnesty International gathering. 

And Frieda (Ms. Ferrell), a waitress and aspiring actress, thinks she's in group therapy as part of her "walk toward self-love." 
The women start talking to and criticizing each other in a round of fantasigs, confrontations and confessions. 

The witty book is complemented by excellent songs from composer and lyricist Michael Gott. The creative trio has managed to meld its voices into a seamless blend of wry resignation. 

The comic motifs are as vivid as the songs. The women each step forward to endure a "Spelling Be" that finds them inadvertently describing themselves. For instance, Marcy's drill devolves from "helpmate" and "nurturer" to "doormat" and "frump." 
And Lisa has a show-stopping flashback to her days as a beauty queen ("Miss Corn Hybrid"), including a talent-round number about "Folding a Fitted Sheet." 

All these varied threads don't tie together at the climax; instead, Mr. Gott's heartfelt ballad for Frieda, "My Life Now," is brought in to send us home humming. 

It works, but only by distracting us from the story, not capping it. A comic send-off and a bit of irony would top off this confection more effectively. But maybe we can't have it all, either. 
 

DALLAS - Quick, someone telephone the White House. Also the United Nations. Tell whoever answers that achieving peace in the Middle East and everywhere else is as easy as Folding a Fitted Sheet. 
 
Thus speaks one number in All Stressed Up With Nowhere to Go, a balmy little musical that began its premiere engagement last night in Dallas. Authors Joan Jenkins and Greta Ferrell and composer Michael Gott set out to create a work that small theater groups could perform, and they have succeeded. This vehicle can travel, all right. Heck, put in repertory with 6 Women With Brain Death and it'll run for years. 
 
For now, Stressed Up is booked for a month's stay at the audience-friendly Trinity River Arts Center, nestled in a concrete glade below Stemmons Freeway. 
 
The playwrights make up half of the cast. Ferrell is Frieda, an insecure aspiring actress who shows up at a kindergarten classroom one evening to attend a therapy group. Jenkins, as divorced, domineering and lonely Lou, is there, too, thinking she's conducting an Amnesty International meeting. Then comes Carol Farabee as Lisa, a fading beauty queen in search of a Mary Kay encounter. And here's Denise Lee as Marcy, a devout housewife on her way to a Bible study session. 
 
They're all in the wrong place. And, in a pardonably weak plot device in the PG-rated script, they're trapped there all evening. Well, shucks, girls. Nothing left to do but talk out your problems. Or, better yet, sing 'em out in clever numbers such as Stress Quartet, Look at Her, Mother's Harangue and Denial. 
 
That last one brings down the first act with a deft bit of choreography (by Jenkins) and a hilarious musical quotation from We're in the Money.
 
Ferrell also directs, and she knows how to exploit her own strong points and her castmates'. A running spelling bee gag, for example, is put to excellent use. The device employs pop psychology to prod each woman's weakness - taking a pseudo-serious turn against Farabee's character. 
 
Every actress has at least one strong solo moment, and the cast works splendidly as an ensemble. Composer Gott supplies some compelling keyboard work, especially on Jenkins' Modern Woman. At other times, however, the recorded background music sounds tinny and over-synthesized.