Oliver Parker!

Photo: The Shaltzes/Photographers

Elizabeth Meriwether's Oliver Parker! tries to be both funny and significant but its contrived situations and unconvincing characters work against both goals. Seventeen-year-old Oliver (Michael Zegen) and sixty-year-old Jasper (John Laroquette) have a bizarre relationship that turns out to be built on a deep secret. However, the play fails to explain sufficiently why they are friends--or why they have anything to do with each other at all. Oliver's aim in life is to get laid; Jasper's aim in life is to die. Both of these are treated as humorous but neither is particularly funny. Enter (separately) a grief-stricken senator with a drug problem and her aide, neither of whom would have stayed in that apartment five minutes, let alone become involved in the ways they become involved. John Larroquette does what he can with a strange role, Johanna Day is convincingly heart-broken, and Monica Raymund lights up the stage with energy and humor. Michael Zegen is annoying as Oliver, but that may just mean that he's playing the part well. Awkwardly directed by Evan Cabnet.

Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson

Photo: Joan Marcus

The explosive and funny rock musical Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson deconstructs the story of the seventh president of the United States and reveals the emotional and moral rot underneath. Michael Friedman's outstanding music and lyrics range from poignant ballads to kick-ass anthems, and he is pitch perfect at finding the right sound for every occasion. As Andrew Jackson, Benjamin Walker owns the stage, and the other performers are all excellent. The design elements (particularly the scenic design by Donyale Werle and the lighting by Justin Townsend) are amazing. However, the whole of Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson is somewhat less than the sum of its parts, mostly because director and book writer Alex Timbers, while extremely creative, sometimes seems more interested in clever theatrics and cheap (albeit funny!) jokes than in the painful history he is exploring. Nevertheless, Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson rocks.

Killing Women

Photo: Ry Pepper

What happens when a paid assassin can't make the hit because she has to drop her daughter off at pre-school? The women in Killing Women, by Marisa Wegrzyn, have unusual careers but the usual work pressures: being passed over for promotions, trying to maintain work/life balance, being treated with condescension by co-workers. Oh, and ostensibly hard-boiled Abby has an extra problem: she just doesn't like killing women. The play is a little thin, but well-acted, entertaining, and occasionally quite funny. It would be even more entertaining with quicker scene changes and no intermission; every time it gets up a head of steam it interrupts itself.

The Kid

The New Group's latest production, The Kid, begins with gigantic projected heads speaking, and then singing, about their sexual, uh, challenges. We are in the living room--and mind--of Dan Savage, sex writer extraordinaire. The Kid follows Dan and boyfriend Terry's quest to adopt a child. As played by the charming Christopher Sieber, Dan is an amiable bear of a man with a wicked sense of humor, a tendency toward paranoia, and a big heart. Terry (touchingly played by Lucas Steele) is lithe, slim-hipped, long-haired, and much younger, and at first their partnership is a little jarring. But it soon becomes clear that they adore each other and that they both want very much to share their love with a little one. The Kid takes us through an orientation with other (straight) couples (where Dan and Terry jump to the conclusion, "They Hate Us"), a home inspection (featuring the wonderful Susan Blackwell), and Dan and Terry's hopes and fears as they deal with a homeless birth mother who may--or may not--give them her baby. The music is accessible and likeable, the lyrics are funny and smart, the book is efficient and entertaining, the direction is appropriately energetic, and the impressive cast includes Ann Harada, Brooke Sunny Moriber, and Tyler Maynard. If The Kid had opened on Broadway in the season that just ended, it would be a shoo-in for a bouquet of Tonys. Still, I hope it has a nice long run Off-Broadway, as it is an intimate, small, lovely musical.

City of Angels

Photo: Bella Muccari

City of Angels, a delightful musical by Cy Coleman (the enjoyable music), David Zippel (the mixed-quality lyrics), and Larry Gelbart (the hysterical book), combines the real world (the story of a novelist struggling to write a screenplay) and the reel world (the screenplay come to life). With multiple sets, a large cast, frequent costume changes, and the need for over-the-top performances that don't go too far over the top, City of Angels is an ambitious choice for an Off-Off-Broadway theatre company. However, the folks at the Gallery Players, located in Brooklyn, are more than up to the challenge. The five-piece band is excellent, and the cast handles the humor, singing, and costume changes with aplomb. Particularly outstanding were Blair Alexis Brown, playing secretaries in both worlds; Danny Rothman as the fictional private eye; and John Weigand, who knows how to make the most out of performing in an iron lung. The weaknesses in the Gallery Players' production can mostly, I suspect, be chalked up to lack of funds. The scene changes take too long, and the differentiation between the real and reel worlds is accomplished with a lighting scheme that makes the actors look a little green around the gills (in the Broadway version, the real world was in color and the reel world--scenery, costumes--in black and white). The voiceovers could also be a little clearer. But the strengths of this production far outweigh the weaknesses, and it's not too late for you to see it (it runs through May 23rd).

White's Lies

Reviewed for Theater News Online.