A high-achieving first-year HMS student has but one option when he receives a mediocre grade on an exam: go back in time to make things right. At least, that’s how it played out onstage during the Class of 2013’s Second Year Show, titled “Marginal Past: Failure Is Not an Option.”
Produced by Jack Varon and directed by Andrew Sun, “Marginal Past” cast its satirical net far and wide, skewering everyone from Dean Jeffrey S. Flier to those “Save the Children” people who block the path to Starbucks.
Loosely based on the film Back to the Future, “Marginal Past” centers on Bo, a first-year gunner who is sent reeling after receiving a “marginal pass” grade on his genetics exam. Finding little comfort in assurances that grades don’t matter at HMS, Bo (C. Terrell Cummings) travels back in time with the assistance the Ghost of Marginal Past, or GOMP (Walter Chen), a nerdy HST student who also happens to have built a working time machine.
The time machine has some glitches, however, and it takes the pair all the way back to the beginning time, where they encounter the likes of Adam (Derek Erstad), Evelyn (Rena Xu) and a God-like figure reminiscent of a certain kidney expert and Human Physiology lecturer at modern-day HMS (Omar Pardesi). In fact, as Bo and GOMP travel through the ages, they encounter younger versions of HMS faculty wherever they go—in some cases much younger, such as Trudy van Houten (Kara Johnson) and Cindy McDermott (Christine Eckhardt) in ancient Rome. They also run into some familiar faces among the student body when they visit HMS in the 1970s, including a fetching young woman nicknamed Kat who Bo just can’t place but who probably rings a bell to any HMS first year.
Dance was the Class of 2013’s strong suit, and the choreography clever. In “September,” a take on the Earth, Wind and Fire song of the same name, dancers from different eras strutted their stuff, including two caveman who put their own primitive spin on the number. Dancing cadavers in the anatomy lab during “Stayin’ Alive” also entertained, along with lyrics like, “Well, you can tell by the way I’ve sold my soul/That I’ve lost my chance to unenroll./I’m Harvard property for good./It’s been my dream since childhood.” And it wouldn’t be the Second Year Show without a rousing bhangra dance, which closed this year’s performance.
“Marginal Past” also included some musical standouts. Veronica Mitko nailed Lady Gaga in “Bad Bromance,” and Christian Strong’s portrayal of Alvin Poussaint singing Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On” was notable not only for his vocal abilities but also his superb comic timing. Bo eventually learns to find balance in his life, but not before members of the HMS community get their traditional Second Year Show roasting. Not even Atrium Café manager Franceny Bedoya was spared. During scene changes, the audience was treated to spoofs on the television miniseries “Boston Med.”
As usual, the breadth of musical and theatrical talent among the future doctors and scientists impressed. This year’s performance was such an enjoyable romp that one was left hoping for a Third Year Show.
