‘Disaster!’: Spoof misses the mark

‘DISASTER!’: Roger Bart & Kerry Butler. Photo: Jeremy Daniel

DISASTER!
By Seth Rudetsky & Jack Plotnick
Choreographed by JoAnn M. Hunter
Directed by Jack Plotnick
Nederlander Theatre
208 West 41st Street
(877) 250-2929, http://www.disastermusical.com/

By Scott Harrah

The 1970s disaster movie genre could easily be mined for a spoof. From The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno, created by the “Master of Disaster” Irwin Allen to Earthquake and the many Airport films, the movies were so over-the-top with their special effects, soapy subplots and all-star casts and cameos that they sometimes seemed like parodies themselves. So it is puzzling why Seth Rudetsky and Jack Plotnick took such a great topic for a satire and did so little with it in Disaster!

Back in 1980, Airplane! hilariously roasted the Airport franchise with slapstick humor that skewered everything about the movies, with visual and sight gags and raunchy jokes. The movie was a mega-hit because it was silly and clever while sending up the plots of not only Airport and Airport 1975 but also the 1957 film Zero Hour. Here, Mr. Rudetsky and Mr. Plotnick have taken plot elements from Earthquake, The Towering Inferno and The Poseidon Adventure and set the scene in 1979 on Barracuda, a floating disco/casino on the Hudson River, with characters loosely based on those in the movies it mocks, but with no quick-witted humor or anything truly ingenious. Instead, the creators insert snippets of old 1970s pop radio standards like “Knock on Wood,” “Sky High,” “I Am Woman,” “Hot Stuff,” “Torn Between Two Lovers” and more ad nauseam, for no apparent reason other than to pad out an already overlong show. The result is many strained laughs in a jukebox musical without much context, like watching one of those kitschy old K-Tel pop music compilations come to life on the stage. Instead of giving us a solid plot and exquisitely jabbing the satirical needle into the genre, Mr. Rudetsky and director Jack Plotnick give us a lazy series of lame, half-baked skits that aren’t funny and serve no purpose.

We have many of the characters from a pastiche of 1970s disaster films, but few are well-developed composites of the people from the wonderfully tacky epics of yesteryear.

There are many Tony-nominated and Tony-winning stage veterans in the show, but their talents are mostly wasted on the thin material. Roger Bart annoyingly hams it up as Tony, the sleazy owner of the casino. Faith Prince and Kevin Chamberlin portray Shirley and Maury, a wisecracking New York Jewish couple obviously modeled after Shelley Winters and Jack Albertson in The Poseidon Adventure. Kerry Butler is Marianne, a reporter and the ex-fiancee of waiter Chad (Adam Pascal). Rachel York plays Jackie, a sexy lounge singer that’s obviously a cross between Carole Lynley’s Nonnie and Stella Stevens’ Linda Rogo in Poseidon. .

Max Crumm (best known for the 2007 Grease revival with Laura Osnes) plays Scott, a waiter, a nod to Roddy McDowell’s character Acres in Poseidon. Newcomer Lacretta Nicole is Levora, the spandex-clad, African-American disco diva who hasn’t had a hit in a while, and her main purpose here seems to be to belt out disco golden oldies like “Never Can Say Goodbye.” Mr. Rudetsky himself plays Professor Ted Schneider, the “disaster expert” who is hell bent on warning everyone about the doom that awaits them because the casino’s structure was built on a fault line (a Manhattan pier).

The true standout performances in the show, however, are given by lesser-known actors. Young Baylee Littrell is outstanding in the dual role of Ben and Lisa, singer Jackie’s identical twins. Jennifer Simard is a total scene stealer as Sister Mary Downy, a nun with a gambling addiction who loves to strum her guitar and screech out an atonal version of Sister Janet Mead’s infamous 1974 rock rendition of “The Lord’s Prayer.” The first-rate Ms. Simard displays the perfect mix of piety and spunk—a glorious homage to Helen Reddy’s singing nun in Airport 1975—and she gets the show’s most sincere and well-deserved laughs.

Disaster! is disappointing because of what it could have been. It started out Off Broadway at the St. Luke’s Theatre three years ago, but the Broadway production should have been more polished. Co-author Jack Plotnick also directs the show, and that is a problem here because an objective party was desperately needed to fine-tune things. In many cases, there should be a law on Broadway that writers of shows should not be allowed to also direct their works, because a more focused director and script doctor might have been able to save this Disaster! from sinking by cutting out the many pointless song snippets, tightening the narrative, and keeping the jokes on-target.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published March 15, 2016
Reviewed at press performance on March 14, 2016

DISASTER!: (left to right) Faith Prince, Kevin Chamberlin & Kerry Butler. Photo: Jeremy Daniel

‘DISASTER!’ Jennifer Simard as nun Sister Mary Downy. Photo: Jeremy Daniel

DISASTER!: Adam Pascal & Kerry Butler. Photo: Jeremy Daniel