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Get Me Rodd Keith!!
Review by Joe Mader

SF Weekly (May 3, 2000)
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Advertisements in the backs of seedy magazines used to urge readers to
send their song lyrics in to places where, for money, they'd be set to
music, thereby speeding hopefuls toward lucrative songwriting careers.
Of course, nobody was actually sped toward anything, but you did get a
melody for your verses. One of the most prolific composers for the
song-poem industry was Rodd Keith, whose music for the often
hilarious words of countless putative lyricists is actually available on CD.
The song-poem scam is a great setup for a musical spoof, and this
Misery/Loves Company production has many good ideas. But Joshua
Pollock's script needs heavy editing, if not a complete rewrite; Meredith
Eldred's sloppy direction lacks pacing and rhythm; and the muddy music
direction and sound mixing (also by Pollock) doom what should be the
most entertaining elements -- the songs themselves. (Sample lyric: "My
mouth is open wide, as if it's saying, 'Come on in!'") The acting is all
over the place: Sean Owens (as a song-poem entrepreneur) chews the
scenery something fierce, while Pollock blandly walks through his own
title role. At significantly longer than two hours, Rodd Keith is torturous,
when it should be sharp and fleet. It's too good a concept for execution
this shoddy.
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