The Hole

* (out of five stars)

The Theater At St. Clements

Circa 2002 the police were more apt to turn a blind eye to seedy East Village joints like The Hole, The Cock and Fat Cock with their hidden sex rooms, porn screens, and naked coke-head strippers. Cherished memories. Sadly, THE HOLE, a messy, poorly conceived musical, currently playing in the basement of a church (a church!), fails to capture the vibe or energy of this long lost hardcore scene. Granted, intermittently there is a low, sexy thumping beat piped in over the dialogue, however, when it is time to sing, we get a full score of corny, poppy showtunes that are less sexy/edgy and more silly/ridiculous. In its attempts to be as naughty and filthy as they can get, the whole evening becomes a numbing hodge-podge of cliche' one liners, and confusing romantic entanglements. And when you have a fully grown man cast as a baby in diapers and rolled around in a wagon, you know that the desperation for the laugh is unmistakable.