Now. Here. This.

Lab productions don't and shouldn't get reviews.  What they should get is encouragement and word of mouth.  Here are some words and they came out of my mouth.

Genuine.
Personal.
Honest.
Poignant.
Witty.
Clever.
Full of Heart.

If you get the chance to get a ticket to the show over the next few weeks at the Vineyard Theatre, don't hesitate for one minute.  Hunter, Susan, Heidi, and Jeff and are back again.  (And if Jeff Bowen isn't Miriam Webster's definition of absolutely adorable, i don't know what is).

The Kid

This seems to be the break-out season for contemporary gay-themed plays and musicals of all kinds  - The Temperamentals, The Pride, Yank, Next Fall.  Each of them is different - an almost forgotten historical gay movement, a mysteriously time shifting play comparing the 1950's and the 1980's, a musical about a military romance during the war, and a contemporary family shocked from all sides by an accident face each other in a hospital.   One way or another, they all involve important social issues of our today - family, relationships and love.  The Kid is no different.  Dan Savage, sex columnist, wrote a book about his experience of adopting a baby with his partner.  This is their story set to a wonderful score with an eclectic and magnificent ensemble cast.

Christopher Sieber (Dan) and Lucas Steele (Terry) give a tender, romantic, and honest performance  - so honest in fact, that you might think they are an off-stage couple as well (alas, they are not).   The supporting ensemble peppers them with with sage advice, warnings, a splash of humor, and of course lots of great harmonies.   Jill Eikenberry, as Dan's mother, sings a song in Act II that brought tears to my eyes about a mother watching her son grow up and letting him be who he needed to be.   The always adorable Tyler Maynard hammed it up as only he can as Chad and a few other scene stealing characters.  Susan Blackwell usually known for her sardonic wit kept things uncharacteristically serious and real as Anne, the adoption agent.   Ann Harada, as Ruth (and others) had several comedic cameos.

Not only was the musical score divine, the set had a multi-media backdrop where video blurbs and graphic animations were shown.  The final animation clip was a perfect way to end and entirely enjoyable evening of theatre. There's a lot of competition in this market segment this year - but I have a feeling that this won't be the last time we see The Kid on a New York stage.

[Title of Show] on Broadway

The little show that could... The show about a show - about writing an original Broadway musical and the dream of bringing it to Broadway... has finally made it to Broadway!!   It's quirky, amusing, honest, insider-joke-driven, and straightforward as it always was. Of course, for this Broadway run, they've update the show. The journey and story beyond the off-Broadway run at the Vineyard Theatre had to be incorporated - and what a clever job they have done. (Is this Broadway's new reality show?). The new sections chronicle the closing off-Broadway, the lull experienced by the cast, TitleofShow.com web episodes (there were 9 in total) and the trials and tribulations of what to change and what to keep as the show morphs into it's Broadway run.

The humor is as clever, witty and as dry as ever. The jokes and characters remain mostly the same ("Is what we are saying right now going to be in the show?" --echo the line on stage - laughter follows). Kudos to keeping the solo spotlighted celebrity

answering machine recordings - Christine Ebersole, Sutton Foster, Patti Lupone and Kerry Butler each brought raucous laughter to the theater. Tourists, fear not, the inside jokes are often explained subsequently (They discuss whether a "Broadway" audience will get the obscure references to Mary Stout being hit by a hot dog cart, Roma Tory and NY1, and the medley of flopped shows in the song Monkeys and Playbills among others)

Perhaps in seeing this early in the run (first preview was July 5) , i was part of a theater audience of friends, industry folks, and the cult-like fans the show garnered over the last two years - but i have to imagine that the brand of humor and the talent on stage will fill the house for quite a while. Jeff Bowen still adorably cute as ever picks apart Hunter's grammar. Heidi Blickenstaff still brings down the house with her vocal prowess. Susan Blackwell is as darkly funny as ever, and, of course, Hunter Bell is as awkward, clever, quirky, and dry as ever. This quartet telling us the story of their story of making a journey to Broadway entertains for over 90 minutes.

Pull up one of your diamond crusted chairs to the Lyceum Theatre and spend a few hours with this entertaining cast before it gets too darn hot!

Speach & Debate

A new "cutting edge" oriented space opened this month at the Roundabout. Speech and Debate, a new play by Stephen karam, christened the space. The new space is a new initiative by Roundabout to cultivate new works by emerging playwrights by giving them the opportunity to present their works as "full scale" productions with all the resources that the Roundabout organisation can bring to the table.
Speech and Debate stars 3 up-and-coming actors - Gideon Glick, Jason Fuchs, and Sarah Steele. They portray 3 not-so-average teens in school who are all linked indirectly to a sex scandal. They bond together for various reasons to form a Speech and Debate club to express their ideas. The play is actually presented in the various segments that align to the categories of classic speech and debate. Gideon plays a gay teen who is out, but doesn't want to bring the story to light to cause himself any embarrassment. Jason plays a high school newspaper reporter digging for the story - and making deals along the way. Sarah plays the eclectic student, blogger, and debate club leader.
The play, performed without intermission, provides an insight into the troubles of youth today and the issues that plague society overall. You'll leave the theater thinking. That's how you know it's a good show.

[title of show] - off Broadway

Witty, sarcastic, young, full of energy, and what you would think would be the most boring topic in the world instead sizzles at the Vineyard Theater! Jeff Bowen and Hunter Bell present a new musical written by them, about them, and for them. They are cute, they are funny, and they are on stage acting out a play for a musical theater festival about two cute and funny boys writing a play about two cute and funny boys trying to write a new musical... Ok - you get it? Art imitating life... Life imitating art?

Clever dialogue, catchy lyrics and music - they even gave the piano player a few lines in the show ("It's ok, we cleared it with the union", they exclaim!). They obviously rail against the establishment (but I'm sure that either of them would take the lead role in Beauty and the Beast if the price was right)!

It's out there - for sure. Struggling artists, wacky friends, zany circumstances abound. I liked the comedy around some of the scenes just "ending" to black. Someone clever must have written the lighting queues too! Quite a few of the songs were catchy - including "Nine People's Favorite Thing" (I'd like to be nine people's favorite thing rather than 100 people's ninth favorite thing), "Monkeys and Playbills" (a very clever use of old flop musical titles - one after the another strung together in a whole song and scene), and Montage/Photo Shoot" (change it, don't change it).

It's been extended - and there's a good reason - you'll laugh and you'll enjoy! Wander down to the Vineyard Theater on E.15th and catch these crazy boys and girls while it lasts.