Happy If Happy When: A Family Musical
By Kimerer l. LaMothe
Planet Connections Theatre
The Clemente, The Latea
107 Suffolk St, New York City
Review by Alexa Garcia

 A family must stick together and be make each other happy. Happy If Happy When is a good family musical about a good family of seven sharing a dream of moving to the country. Tired of waiting, the kids decide to take matters into their own hands and after a series of events launches them close to their dream – of owning an old dairy farm. Here they discover the farm has its own ideas of what it wants this family to be. As each of them fends for him/herself, the family runs into myriad troubles before they realize how much they need one another to create the earth-friendly life they all want to have.

Happy If Happy When is presented by Vital Arts. The book/music/lyrics are written by Kimerer L. Lamothe and the music/arrangements is by Geoffrey Gee. The production benefits Mark DeGarmo Dance a leader in dance education, bringing dance to the children in New York City. The production features live instrumention by Geoffrey Gee (dad and pianist), Marc Edwards (bass & guitar), Gabriel Morosky (drums & fiddle). The family – playing the stage version of themselves – did truly an incredible job singing and dancing and supplied the engaged crowd with joy. Kudos to little Leif LaMothe Gee (Ted), who, looked a bit nervous, conquered it to supply a standout performance. The entire family/cast were exemplary and worked well off of each other – as well as should. The family/cast featured Kimerer LaMothe (Mom), Geoffrey Gee (dad), Jordan  LaMothe (Hank), Jessica Gee (Sarah), Kyra Gee (Eliza), Kai LaMothe (Joe), Leif  LaMothe Gee (Ted).

In terms of the material, we were offered catchy tunes – a throwback to the good old days of the American musical – sung well with some stunning harmonies. Kimerer LaMothe also showed herself to be a fine dancer. Happy If Happy When took an age-old art form and innovated it: A family musical for the whole family done by the family about the family so bring the family to see it!