Nobody Loves You

Reality TV meets Broadway... sort of.  Itmar Moses jumps into the reality TV cesspool by penning a funny, yet predictable, rom-com now playing over at Second Stage.

Heath Calvert (Byron) deadpans every line and hits the target each time as the TV series host.  Leslie Kritzer (Nina) nails the over-the-top, sun glass-wearing producer.  Rory O'Malley plays, yet again, a delicious gay character, (Evan), who steals the show.  Leads Bryan Fenkhart (Jeff) and Aleque Reid (Jenny) give top notch performances.

Now, the show won't win any Pulitzer prizes or OBies, but it's perfect for a little guilty theatre pleasure for the summer.  Just like Big Brother, go see what's on the cameras over on West 43rd Street.  I just wish the camera man got credited in the playbill!

Next Thing You Know

Joshua Salzman and Ryan Cunningham take a walk down Twenty-Something Lane with their fresh, new gen-X musical.  Well, of course they do, the are twenty-something themselves and if I had to guess, wrote from many a personal experience.  The subject matter and title, Next Thing you Know, comes from that age-old phrase we all know - "Last time I checked, I was young and having a blast on my 23rd birthday and .... here it comes... next thing i know, I'm 30 and need to grow up".  That about sums up the story line here.  Fear not, tho, it's light, fresh, honest, fun and while never over indulging.  Salzman and Cunningham even turn a hangover into something to chuckle at.

Needless to say, a cast of good looking (drop dead gorgeous in the case of Heath Calvert, but I digress...) actors helm the spacious performance floor (not exactly a traditional stage) in CAP21 Theatre Company's brand-spankin' new expanded space on West 18th Street.  Lauren Blackman (Lisa), Heath Calvert (Luke), Adam Kantor (Darren) and Lauren Molina (Waverly) enthusiastically take on their respective tortured young souls - singing and drowning their sorrows in booze in the Sullivan Street Tavern and surrounding neighborhood.  It's not hard at all to imagine these young denizens as the actual characters - good looking (did i mention that Heath with his shirt off is jaw-droppingly handsome?), smart, creative, young urbanites searching for love, connection, and meaning in their lives.

Besides Heath's drop dead good looks and flawless body (OK, Adam I really thought you were cute too), I was especially entertained by the music and lyrics.  Well written, well constructed, catchy and fun - a little pop (OK, maybe a lot) and a few ballads and lite Broadway styled numbers thrown in for good measure too. I believe this is Joshua and Ryan's second trip down the aisle in musical theatre composition.  I'm thoroughly impressed and sincerely hope that we will hear more from them very soon.   In the meantime - catch a bus, subway or cab over to CAP21 and catch a slice of your quickly vanishing youth performed nightly on stage before it's too late and ... next thing you know....

Rock of Ages

 One pure guilty start to the summer pleasure, coming right up.  Let's just get this out of the way right up front.  This show is so bad, it's delicious!  There is marginal talent on the stage - certainly not much good dancing, plenty of loud 1980's power ballads and anthem like songs we all remember, and plenty of fairly decent, but not breakthrough acting going on.  Frankly, from a pure theater standpoint, it gets a C- at best.  But from the entertainment angle, it's a B+.  A simply enjoyable evening that includes lots of bad hair, fairly decent tunes, a giggin' rock band, a couple of sexy as all hell boys - and on top of that I could have a beer at my seat!

I did at times feel like I should have been at Madison Square Garden - partly because of the aforementioned beer and partly because of the strange non-traditional theatre crowd drawn in for the music.  Many yelled and pumped their pinkies and thumbs in the air and some just talked throughout the show, probably because their girlfriends did not inform them that they were going to a Broadway show rather than a rock concert.

All this aside, I was entertained.  James Carpinello  - hot and dripping with sex.  Kerry Butler (Sherry) finally got to make out with him (since he never made it to the opening night of Xanadu because of his injury!).  I didn't see Constantine Maroulis, but his understudy was darn good.  Fill in the comedy factor with Hertz and his son Franz (um, super funny and sexy and the boy could dance his cute little ass off!).

I've said it a few times this season - the show was good, but is this Broadway?  I think not.  I'd pay to see it at the Beacon Theatre or in this case even the Theatre at Madison Square Garden - I'm not happy that this crap ends up on Broadway!

Sweeney Todd

The triumphant return of Sweeney Todd! Straight from London... a truly unique staging, interpretation and performance makes it fresh, exciting, intriguing, and mysterious. Patti LuPone adds an extra dash of "sass", Michael Cervaris, an extra dash of angst. Top it off with the actors all playing multiple instruments live on stage (yes, they ARE the orchestra!) - and that's one delicious "pie" to sink your chops into!

In an amazingly small performance space on a large stage, one immediately notices the vertical dimension of the set - Probably intentional - as it also seemed to parallel the new dimension of the characters - Not to mention the use of the vertical space in the performance itself. Who would have thought a black coffin and stainless steel ladder would be so functional?!

Lighting - well, the flashlights were annoying at times, but unique nonetheless. And of course, the blood red lights and the piercing whistle ubiquitously signaled another client's demise in the infamous barber's chair.

West 49th just might be renamed Fleet Street this fall. Run and get your tickets today before it's "too late"!