‘Trouble’ Is a Toe-Tapping Musical Thriller Worth the Price of Admission

Musical thrillers are not written or produced very often, but when a good one hits, they stick around. Trouble, written and directed by Jacob Chase, slices and dices its way into the Live Action Short race by offering a mash-up of the Old Hollywood musical style with simmering tension. There is a fine line between a huckster and a hustler, but what happens when a simple transaction turns into a deceptive game of revenge and murder? With choreography!

If Anthony Rapp knocked on your door, you would welcome him in with no hesitation. Rapp always offers an easy, knowing smile, and his friendly voice is comforting. He plays The Salesman with a golly-gee effortlessness when he knocks on a door to sell a collection of knives to the sickly man of the house. He is met, however, by an overworked nurse who is already running late. In an effort to get out of the door faster, she offers to talk to The Old Man about the knife proposal if The Salesman watches the house for a few minutes so she can check in on another patient up the road. You can trust this guy, right?

When The Salesman wanders through the house, he finds himself face-to-face with The Old Man, and he assures The Salesman that he can’t be swindled. “There are only swindlers and marks,” The Old Man muses. Despite his stern refusal to buy, he lets Rapp’s charmer to go on with his presentation, and he begins to tell his story with precise syncopation, his knife hitting just the right punctuation to his yarn. Before we know it, The Salesman has launched into a full-scale, one-man musical number, and we are on the edge of our seat to see where the story goes.

I’ve missed hearing Rapp’s clear, tenor voice–every time he sings the word ‘beautiful,’ my little musical theater geek heart soared. I won’t ruin the song for you (the film is linked below), but there is a clear plan set in place. Rapp uses that genial grin and seemingly good nature in an entirely new way. This Salesman is more Harold Thrill than Harold Hill (okay, I’ll stop…) .John Rubinstein (the original Pippin, my god!) telegraphs a lot with small, gentle movements in his face and holds his own against his dancing adversary.

Jacob Chase takes the sweetness of your grandmother’s favorite musical and mashes it down gorgeously with a sense of danger. You never lose the whimsy, though. Good luck to the next person who adds a little more grisly details to their musical. With Chase’s film raising the bar, you sure are in trouble.