I make an extra special effort to view original works by local playwrights and theatre troupes. It seems like the least I can do after they have spent so much time to create new vision for the stage. 
 
More often than not I get rewarded with great shows, not just because I can claim I was one of the first folks to view a work that went on to wider success, but the works are often inventive and creative.

And sometimes I don’t get rewarded.

Centerstage's premiere of its musical, Carl Sagan’s Contact, falls into the latter category. While this show is billed as being filled with “star stuff,” that’s not exactly the modifier I would use before "stuff."

It wasn't a bad show for a work in progress, but it should have been billed as such and not as a finished work. It is not a finished work. In the future, it might be able to save itself as a diamond in the rough – but not yet.

The show is the brainchild of Centerstage’s Managing Artistic Director Alan Bryce, who has made a tradition out of bringing new works to the South Sound theater scene. Amy Engelhardt, ASCAP award-winner and member of The Bobs, is the lyricist, and European Composer of the Year Peter Sipos wrote the music. LA-based Roni Blak choreographed the show.

Dana Friedi is the costume designer and set/lighting designer. The cast of 18 locally-based actor includes: Caitlin Frances (Ellie), Matthew Posner (Joss) and Eric Hartley (Hadden), Zoe McLane, Jamie Pederson, Natalie Moe, Lance Channing, Joe McCarthy, Alison Monda, Sophia Federighi, Amber Cutlip, Dana Johnson, AnnaMaria Pasley Horn, Matthew Ahrens, James Patrick, Branden Edwards and Jonathan Wright.

The show is based on Sagan's book by the same name, which has since been retooled into a movie starring Jodie Foster.

The story tells the tale of Ellie Arroway, the director of "Project Argus," who is unflinchingly searching for extraterrestrial intelligence. After encountering the first confirmed communication from "voices from the stars," she discovers something more dramatic and unexpected than anyone could have ever predicted.

What made this show fall flat for me was the collection of bad music and absolutely horrible sound mixing. Top that off with some 1970s musical soundtrack work and bad costumes, complete with sneakers as astronaut boots, as well as the whole musical package being played on a keyboard instead of actual instruments, and the show just falls apart from lack of production.

[Knutzen Family Theatre, Carl Sagan’s Contact, through Oct. 18, 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, 3200 S.W. Dash Point Road, Federal Way, 253.835.2020]