(title of show) at George Street Playhouse a laugh riot
If Tyler Maynard had one more ounce of talent, he might explode.
Put him in the Jeff Bowen/Hunter Bell musical "[title of show]" with an ensemble that includes the equally versatil
Seth Rudetsky, and you've got fireworks onstage.
That's what's happening at George Street Playhouse, where Maynard and Rudetsky are performing the unique and popular musical along with Susan Mosher, Lauren Kennedy and pianist/conductor Jesse Vargas.
"[title of show]" was launched in 2004 when Bowen and Bell submitted the script and a demo recording to the New York Musical Theatre Festival. Bell had written the book and Bowen the songs in about three weeks.
They were determined to write something original; as they wrestled with the challenge they had taken on, they decided that what they were going through to write the show would make just as good a script as anything else they could write. Hence, "a musical about two guys writing a musical about two guys writing a musical."
The festival accepted the play, which was later performed both off and onBroadway — with Jeff and Hunter playing themselves.
As the play itself relates, that didn't happen without some soul searching about the clash between the commitment to being original and the perceived expectations of commercial backers and audiences.
Jeff and Hunter set out to show with this project that a successful musical play was possible with only "four chairs and a keyboard," a point which Jeff stubbornly defends when Hunter talks of compromises in order to get "my show" to Broadway.
We see at George Street how right they were in the first place, with Maynard as Hunter, Rudetsky as Jeff, Mosher and Kennedy as Susan and Heidi — performers who signed on to "[title of show]" at the start — and Vargas at the onstage piano.
There's more to it now than four chairs and a keyboard. R. Michael Miller's set is appropriately spare, leaving plenty of space for the wittychoreography carried out under Matt Lenz's direction.
Meanwhile, changes in time, locale, mood and theme are established through an imaginative series of rear projections by Michael Clark — from a parade of playbills from past Broadway turkeys to a swarm of bats to accompany "Die, Vampire, Die," a song in which Susan leads her colleagues in confronting the insecurities and doubts that can plague creative people.
Maynard's performance is a breathtaking display that combines sharp comic timing, a thrilling singing voice, fluid movement, and a magnetic personality. His campy turn as the pseudo-character Blank Paper, reminding Jeff of both the benefits and hazards of starting from scratch, is side-splitting funny.
Rudetsky is equally as effective as a website designer who compulsively corrects his friend's grammar. A man with multimedia entertainment experience, Rudetsky makes the often complicated dialogue and stage business seem natural. He delivers his share of this show's many crackling lyrics with wit and bombast worthy of a man who happens to be an authority on Broadway songs.
Susan Mosher as an office manager who had given up on a stage career, and Lauren Kennedy as a competent actress who hasn't gotten past understudy status are both full of sass and energy to go along with their considerable dramatic and musical powers. Kennedy makes the most one of the more touching moments in the program — the song "A Way Back to Then" in which Heidi recalls the dreams she had as a little girl.
'[title of show]" has a special appeal to theater junkies, and some in the audience might find some of the references and gags obscure. That might not matter much, though, because this show, in its unusual premise, its satirical and bawdy material, and its dynamic execution on the George Street stage is simply a riot.
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