A middle aged man named Preacher is playing an acoustic guitar in a rundown bar. He is singing and drinking as the bartender, Johnson, looks on. A young man, Harley, enters the bar with excitement in his eyes. He exclaims that this is the bar where one of his musical heroes killed himself. He can’t believe that he found it. Preacher is annoyed by the interruption.

Harley goes on to say that he is planning to sell his guitar at the pawn shop across the street. His wife is pregnant and it is time for him to give up on his dream. He needs to get a steady job and support his family. Preacher sees a bit of his younger self in Harley. He tells him that this plan will never work. He may try to let go of his dream, but it will never let go of him. As the afternoon goes on, they discover they have a lot more in common than they could have ever expected.

David Atkinson is excellent as the preacher, who is similar to Jeff Bridges’ character in Crazy Heart. Both of them are older musicians full of heartache who never found success. Christopher Fordinal is great as Harley, the young musician ready to give up on his dream. They are both good guitar players and singers. Nina Herzog is solid as Destiny, Harley’s wife. However, the one weakness of this play is that her reactions to the situations in the play seem a bit unrealistic. Lastly, Leonard Earl Howze is golden as Johnson, the bartender. He’s a great listener who sees the big picture and then shares this wisdom.

The music in this play is excellent. It’s singer songwriter style acoustic rock. Hopefully they will record a cast album!

Get tickets for Salvage now through January 19th!

Cost of a ticket: $35
PlaylistHQ Economic Rating: Worth It +
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Quinn Delaney