CVRep’s final offering of the season is most likely the quirkiest musical you’ll have seen in many a year. It’s called Ernest Shackleton Loves Me, written by Joe DiPietro with a score by Brendan Milburn and Valerie Vigoda. It’s part Rom-Com, part self-motivational and all-together fun.
Kat (Sarah Manton) is a musician and single mother to a newborn baby boy who has kept her awake for 36 hours. Her baby daddy left her to tour with a JOURNEY Tribute band. But when she straps on her electric violin (connected to some impressive software), she soars as high as her music. She knows her job scoring a video game will be her savior and bring her the success she needs. Unfortunately, the company fires her in favor of someone more in-touch with today’s gamers…a high school student. With her Brooklyn apartment freezing and her being in a total state of exhaustion, she commits an act of total desperation; she posts an ad on a dating site – Cupid’s Leftovers.
Kat’s hopes are raised when she quickly gets a response until she realizes that her suitor is a long-dead Antarctic explorer, Ernest Shackleton (Matt Miles). He is quickly followed by several other deceased explorers but it is Shackleton who quickly makes an impression. He first appears on a giant video screen with wooing lines like “Oh fair Katherine, will you remain true ’til I call again? Of course you will! What woman can resist a polar explorer?”
He then makes a personal appearance, entering from her refrigerator. What better entrance for an Antarctic explorer? And soon her music gives him the inspiration to continue his dangerous Antarctic trek, while his faith in Kat gives her the ego lift to believe in herself again. And when he is about to give up believing that all is lost, she fires back his motivational words to give him renewed determination and strength.
CVRep-Ernest Shackleton Loves Me-Matt Miles-Photos by Lani 
CVRep-Ernest Shackleton Loves Me-Matt Miles & Sarah Manton-Photos by Lani 
CVRep-Ernest Shackleton Loves Me-Matt Miles & Sarah Manton-Photos by Lani 
CVRep-Ernest Shackleton Loves Me-Sarah Manton & Matt Miles-Photos by Lani 
CVRep-Ernest Shackleton Loves Me-Sarah Manton & Matt Miles-Photos by Lani
Under the superb direction of Craig Wells, the pace never slackens, the surprises keep coming and the performances shine. It is important to note that when Kat and/or Shackleton are seen with their musical instruments, they are actually playing them live. Kudos must also be given to musical director Stephen Hulsey who is coordinating the multi-tracking, sound effects, and mixing in real time from backstage. It is no easy feat in this show!
Jimmy Cuomo’s set is superb. At one moment it is a Brooklyn apartment and the next, along with Adam Karsten’s strong video elements and Moire Wilke’s beautifully effective lighting, we are in a winter storm in Antarctica.
Speaking of Adam Karsten’s video, don’t miss his welcoming speech. Its ending made me laugh out loud and I’m still giggling.
This is not your usual musical with big dance numbers and choruses filling the stage. But it is an engaging, humorous, and quirky one and a must for any lover of musicals to see.
Ernest Shackleton Loves Me runs through May 10, 2026. For tickets and further information visit their website at WWW.CVRep.org