‘DEATH BECOMES HER’: Megan Hilty & Jennifer Simard. Photo: Matthew Murphy & Evan Zimmerman.

DEATH BECOMES HER
Based on the Universal Pictures film, directed by Robert Zemeckis
Book by Marco Pennette
Music & lyrics by Julia Mattison & Noel Carey
Directed & choreographed by Christopher Gattelli
Through June 28, 2026
Lunt-Fontanne Theatre
205 West 46^th Street
https://deathbecomesher.com/

By Scott Harrah

The 1992 film Death Becomes Her, starring Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn, was a phenomenal hit comedy, with iconic performances by the two actresses and state-of-the-art special effects. Broadway stage adaptations are always tricky and a gamble. Fortunately, this musical captures all the outrageous fun and special effects that made the movie so memorable. What’s more, at times the Broadway version surpasses the movie’s high-energy level of self-parody, and that’s a plus for anyone who loves exaggerated entertainment for laughter’s sake.

Like the famous film on which it is based, the musical Death Becomes Her revels in all the catty fun one can think of when two women who are best friends and celebrities take rivalry to outrageous lengths. It has all the ingredients for bona fide camp: Bitchy one-liners, the quest for eternal youth, and women fighting over men. Not exactly feminist fare, for sure, but the 1992 movie never tried to be that either. More like Clare Booth Luce’s The Women fused with a horror movie with a subtext about the dangers of extreme plastic surgery gone horribly wrong.

The plot

For those who have never seen the movie, here’s a brief synopsis. Madeline Ashton (Megan Hilty) is an aging Hollywood star who will do anything to restore her once-youthful beauty. Her friend and rival Helen Sharp (Jennifer Simard) is a struggling writer married to plastic surgeon Ernest Menville (Christopher Sieber). Desperate to rejuvenate her looks, Madeline visits the enigmatic Viola Van Horn (Michelle Williams), a woman who sells her a magic potion that will restore beauty and make one forever young. One catch: The potion makes people live forever, and beauty and immortality both have many sobering consequences and side effects.

Madeline and Helen have been “frenemies” for years, with Madeline obsessed with her vanity and Helen thirsty for revenge. When Madeline steals Ernest from Helen, all-out war ensues.

True to the film

The musical adaptation of Death Becomes Her is mostly true to the 1992 film, despite a few minor changes in the script and some character’s names that will only be noticed by those who have seen the movie dozens of times (this reviewer, for example).  Marco Pennette’s book is consistently crisp and full of quick-witted repartee. Thanks to “illusions” by Tim Clothier, a gorgeous set by Derek McLane, fantastic lighting by Justin Townsend, ultra-glamorous costumes by Paul Tazewell and hair and wigs by Charles LaPointe, Broadway’s Death Becomes Her is a nonstop glitz-fest. For years, critics have been complaining that Broadway musicals are too threadbare, utilitarian and not extravagant enough anymore, but this one pulls out all the proverbial stops.

The score

Julia Mattison and Noel Clary’s songs are all whimsical and witty. However, although few are particularly memorable, they certainly are never dull. One of the standouts is “For the Gaze,” Madeline’s gleefully silly production number in act one. The “Gaze” she sings about are actually “gays” and she impersonates everyone from Liza Minnelli to Julie Andrews in Victor/Victoria while scantily clad chorus boys dance around her.

Sublime cast

The sublime cast truly makes Death Become Her shine. It is a treat to see the two female leads back on Broadway. Megan Hilty is a true comic delight as Madeline Ashton. With her seamless delivery of snarky wisecracks and her soaring vocals, Ms. Hilty is the perfect Madeline. Equally outstanding is Jennifer Simard, who makes the perfect transition from mousy frump Helen to a buxom sexpot. Ms. Simard has been slowly gathering momentum on Broadway over the years, and her portrayal of Helen Sharp is her best performance ever. Christopher Sieber is also amazing as Ernest Melville, the plastic surgeon who must endure “Mad” and “Hel” for too long.

Supporting cast members are equally extraordinary. Michelle Williams sheds her Destiny’s Child image and portrays the mystical Viola Van Horn with the right mix of mystique and the macabre. Of course, her vocals on such songs as “Don’t Say I Didn’t (Warn You)” are first rate. Josh Lamon gives a fun performance as Stefan, Madeline’s overworked assistant. Taurean Everett is wonderfully menacing as Chagall, Viola’s assistant.

Director and choreographer Christopher Gattelli directs everything fluidly and smoothly, helping make Death Becomes Her one of the year’s best musicals. It’s hilarious from the moment the curtain rises and the madcap insanity never lets up.

Published November 25, 2024
Reviewed at press performance on November 23, 2024

‘DEATH BECOMES HER’: Michelle Williams (center) & cast. Photo: Matthew Murphy & Evan Zimmerman.

‘DEATH BECOMES HER’: Christopher Sieber. Photo: Matthew Murphy & Evan Zimmerman.

‘DEATH BECOMES HER’: Jennifer Simard & Christopher Sieber. Photo: Matthew Murphy & Evan Zimmerman.

‘DEATH BECOMES HER’: Megan Hilty (center) & cast. Photo: Matthew Murphy & Evan Zimmerman.

‘DEATH BECOMES HER’: Jennifer Simard & Christopher Sieber. Photo: Matthew Murphy & Evan Zimmerman.

‘DEATH BECOMES HER’: Taurean Everett (center) & cast. Photo: Matthew Murphy & Evan Zimmerman.

‘DEATH BECOMES HER’: Jennifer Simard (center), Megan Hilty, Christopher Sieber & cast. Photo: Matthew Murphy & Evan Zimmerman.

‘DEATH BECOMES HER’: (left to right) Megan Hilty, Jennifer Simard, Josh Lamon & Christopher Sieber. Photo: Matthew Murphy & Evan Zimmerman.

The post ‘Death Becomes Her’ is killer hit of the year appeared first on StageZine.

‘ONCE UPON A ONE MORE TIME’: The cast. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

ONCE UPON A ONE MORE TIME
Book by Jon Hartmere
Based on music performed & recorded by Britney Spears
Creative Consultant David Leveaux
Directed & choreographed by Keone & Mari Madrid
Marquis Theatre
1535 Broadway at 45th Street
(877-250-2929), www.OneMoreTimeMusical.com

By David NouNou

The hubris in  Jon Hartmere’s book for Once Upon a One More Time is both silly and ludicrous—expecting most audience members attending this insipid show to know about Betty Friedan and her 1963 book The Feminine Mystique. It seems only my middle-aged partner and I attending Friday evening’s performance found the mention of the book hilarious. When Cinderella (Briga Heelan) meets fairy Godmother, O.F.G (Brooke Dillan), our heroine is given Friedan’s feminist manifesto  to read to understand women’s lib. She’s supposed to free herself of the fairy tale chains. When Cinderella marries the prince in the end for the requisite “happily ever after,” the joke about the mention of Friedan and her book landed like a thud. However, our raucous laughter at that line had nearby audience members looking at us and wondering what was so funny. The irony of the moment escaped all the tweens and the 40-something wannabe tweens. Britney Spears is indeed a pop icon, but what does she have to do with feminism? This is one of the many confusing notions tossed into this mess of a jukebox musical.

Cinderella had a very busy year this year. In the last 12 months, she’s been featured in no less than three musicals. She was first featured in Stephen Sondheim’s brilliant City Center revival of Into the Woods where she finds out that marrying the prince doesn’t necessarily mean it ended happily ever after. Her woes just began.

In the second incarnation was the dreadful Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Bad Cinderella which in comparison to this would be a masterpiece. In Webber’s version, she’s a bad girl who refuses to marry the prince because she discovers a whole new world out there.

In this third abysmal version, she is referred to as Cin. She and her sisters Snow White, Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty, Little Mermaid are all dating the same Prince Charming (Justin Guarini);  Belle, Esmeralda, Goldilocks, Little Red Riding Hood are not dating him but are thrown in for good measure to complete the fairy tale characters. Cin helps teach all these young ladies to break the chains of the characters they portray and think outside the box. Now you will ask yourself what the heck does all this have to do with “Based on the Music Performed and Recorded by Britney Spears”? Absolutely nothing. The songs—including all the Britney classics from “Baby One More Time” and “Oops…I Did It Again” to “Toxic and “Stronger”— and the dance moves are wedged in to no effective advantage or advancing the narrative in this lame storyline, other than giving the tweens and the 40-something wannabe tweens an excuse to shriek, snap, holler, and whistle every time they hear one of her songs or recognize one of the dance steps. Truth be told, Ms. Spears’ songs were put to much better use in last fall’s excellent production of & Juliet.

Adding to the confusion, one wonders how much of the music and songs were on pre-recorded tracks because we never really see the musicians—other than a screenshot of musicians projected onto the stage at the end of the show.

I will end this review on a high note. Thank God for Jennifer Simard as the Stepmother. Her mere presence—whether in the musicals Disaster or Company—always manages to breathe oxygen into any part she plays.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published July 10, 2023
Reviewed at July 7, 2023 press performance.

‘ONCE UPON A ONE MORE TIME’: Briga Heelan. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

‘ONCE UPON A ONE MORE TIME’: Brooke Dillman (center) & cast. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

‘ONCE UPON A ONE MORE TIME’: Justin Guarini & cast. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

The post ‘Once Upon a One More Time’ a jukebox mess appeared first on StageZine.

NEW YORK—In celebration of the musical’s first Broadway preview tonight, Tony Award-winning producers James L. Nederlander and Hunter Arnold have released a special sneak peek video clip of “Crazy” from rehearsals of Once Upon A One More Time. The new musical, powered by the music of Grammy Award-winning pop icon Britney Spears, begins performances tonight, Saturday, May 13, 2023 at the Marquis Theater in New York City.

Helmed by internally acclaimed, Drama Desk-nominated Director & Choreographers Keone & Mari Madrid (Beyond Babel, Karate Kid), Once Upon a One More Time is an electrifying and witty new musical comedy featuring an original story written by Jon Hartmere (bare, The Upside). Fully authorized and licensed by Britney Spears post-conservatorship, and inspired by an idea she proposed, the musical weaves the chart-topping hits of the undisputed Princess of Pop – including “Oops I Did It Again,” “Lucky,” “Circus,” “Toxic”, and more – into a brand-new kind of fairy tale. When Cinderella, Snow White, and other storybook heroines gather for book club, they always discuss the same book, Grimms’ Fairy Tales — because as far as they know, it’s the only book that’s ever been written. That is, until a rogue fairy godmother drops The Feminine Mystique into their corseted laps. From now on, “happily ever after” will never be the same.

Leading the Original Broadway Cast of the musical, which will celebrate its official opening night at the Marquis Theater on Thursday, June 22, 2023, are Briga Heelan (“Great News”, “Ground Floor”) will star as Cinderella, Justin Guarini (“American Idol”, Wicked) as Prince Charming, and Aisha Jackson (Frozen, Paradise Square) as Snow White, reprising the roles they originated in the world premiere production of Once Upon a One More Time, which played a sold-out, extended engagement at the Tony Award-winning Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC), in Washington, D.C, from November 29, 2021-January 9, 2022. Joining the cast for the Broadway premiere are two-time Tony Award nominee Jennifer Simard (Company, Mean Girls) as Stepmother, two-time Tony Award nominee Adam Godley (The Lehman Trilogy, Hulu’s “The Great”) as The Narrator, comedienne Brooke Dillman (“The Wayne Brady Show”, “The Office”) as The O.F.G. (Original Fairy Godmother), Ryann Redmond (Frozen, Bring It On) as Stepsister Belinda, and Tess Soltau (Wicked, “The Good Fight”) as Stepsister Betany.

Gabrielle Beckford (The Prom 1st Natl. Tour, Gloria: A Life at A.R.T.) will play Rapunzel, Ashley Chiu (KPOP at Ars Nova, She Said) is Sleeping Beauty, Nathan Levy (Dear Evan Hansen) is Clumsy, Ryan Steele (Newsies, Matilda the Musical) is Prince Erudite, Morgan Whitley (American Psycho, The Greatest Showman) is Princess Pea, and Lauren Zakrin (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812) is Little Mermaid. Rounding out the cast are Matt Allen (Escape to Margaritaville, Something Rotten), Liv Battista (Billie Eilish Tour, Beyond Babel) as Belle, Jacob Burns (Hamilton Tour), Pauline Casiño (“Little Voice” on Apple TV+, Candace Brown’s The Soul Spot) as Esmeralda, Selene Haro (Beyond Babel) as Gretel, Joshua Daniel Johnson (Disney’s Sneakerella) as Prince Brawny, Amy Hillner Larsen (The Marvelous Wonderettes, Hairspray Tour) as Goldilocks, Justice Moore (Hamilton, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”) as Red, Kevin Trinio Perdido (Almost Famous, Fire Island The Musical) as  Prince Mischievous, Mikey Ruiz (Beyond Babel) as Prince Gregarious, Salisha Thomas (Beautiful: The Carole King Musical), Josh Tolle (Kinky Boots 1st Natl. Tour, The Heart of Rock & Roll) as Prince Suave, Diana Vaden (Tootsie, Mack and Mabel at Encores!) as Swing, Mila Weir as Little Girl, Stephen Scott Wormley (The Lion King, “The Blacklist”) as Prince Affable, and Isabella Ye as Little Girl.

The world premiere production of Once Upon a One More Time played a sold-out, extended engagement at the Tony Award-winning Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC), in Washington, D.C, from November 29, 2021-January 9, 2022, and was praised as “ingenious, and improbably funny” (Washingtonian). The musical was described as “an evening of buoyant delight” by The Washington Post critic Peter Marks, who also wrote in a feature on the production, “Once Upon A One More Time is one of the most ambitious new musicals in a theater world awakening to a creative new day – a most unlikely cultural mash-up, reframing a bevy of storybook characters in an enlightened, modern context.”  NPR said the show, “combines fairytales, Betty Friedan and Britney Spears in a large-scale, Broadway way, resulting in clever, uproarious fun. Who couldn’t use a little more fun these days?”  DC Metro Theater Arts raved the show is, “inspiring! A full-fledged, Grade A, gold star success… and exactly the party we need right now. It is as thought-provoking as it is toe-tapping, as clever as it is hilarious, as bold as it is shiny. I predict it will be an intergenerational smash.”

Joining the Madrids and Hartmere on the musical’s creative team are five-time Tony Award nominee David Leveaux (Nine, Romeo and Juliet on Broadway, NBC’s “Jesus Christ Superstar LIVE”) as Creative Consultant, Tony Award-nominated Scenic Designer Anna Fleischle (Hangmen, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie), Costume Designer Loren Elstein (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead), Tony Award-winning Lighting Designer Kenneth Posner (Wicked, Beetlejuice), Sound Designer Andrew Keister (KPOP, On Your Feet!), Tony-nominated Projection Designer Sven Ortel (Newsies) and Drama Desk nominated Wig Designer Nikiya Mathis (Death of a Salesman, Chicken & Biscuits). Casting is by Hardt Casting (West Side Story).

TICKETS AND SCHEDULE

Tickets are on sale at Ticketmaster.com, or in person at the Marquis Theatre Box Office (210 W 46th Street).  Groups of 10+ can call: 212-840-3890 or 800-714-8451. A limited number of $47 tickets will be available for each performance via digital lottery at https://lottery.broadwaydirect.com/show/omt-ny/. For performances through June 24, the playing schedule for Once Upon a One More Time is Monday–Saturday at 8:00PM, with matinees on Wednesdays and Saturdays at 2:00PM. Beginning June 27, the regular playing schedule is: Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7:00PM, Fridays at 8:00PM, Wednesdays and Saturdays at 2:00PM & 8:00PM, Sundays at 3:00PM. Holiday weeks may vary, and there are no matinees on May 17 or May 24. Beginning September 5, the Wednesday schedule is 7:00PM only, and the Sunday schedule is 2:00PM & 7:00PM. Visit the offical website at https://onemoretimemusical.com/

Sneak peek of  ‘Crazy’ rehearsal video for Once Upon a One More Time, new musical empowered by the hits of Britney Spears

Videos courtesy of Vivacity Media Group.

Animated logo for Once Upon a One More Time. Click below for video.

The post ‘Once Upon a One More Time’ starts Broadway previews appeared first on StageZine.

NEW YORK— Tony Award-winning producers James L. Nederlander and Hunter Arnold are pleased to announce the complete cast for the Broadway premiere of Once Upon A One More Time, the new musical comedy that flips the script on famous fairytales, powered by the music of Grammy Award-winning international pop icon Britney Spears. Helmed by internationally acclaimed, Drama Desk-nominated director & choreographers Keone & Mari Madrid (Beyond Babel, Karate Kid), the musical begins previews Saturday, May 13, 2023, at the Marquis Theatre in New York City, and celebrates its opening night on Thursday, June 22, 2023. Tickets are on sale at Ticketmaster.com/877-250-2929.

Briga Heelan. Photo: Courtesy of Vivacity Media.

Joining Briga Heelan (“Great News”, “Ground Floor”) as Cinderella, Justin Guarini (“American Idol”, Wicked) as Prince Charming, Aisha Jackson (Frozen, Paradise Square) as Snow White, two-time Tony Award nominee Jennifer Simard (Company, Mean Girls) as Stepmother, and two-time Tony Award nominee Adam Godley (The Lehman Trilogy, Hulu’s “The Great”) as The Narrator, are comedienne Brooke Dillman (“The Wayne Brady Show”, “The Office”) as The O.F.G. (Original Fairy Godmother), Ryann Redmond (Frozen, Bring It On) as Stepsister Belinda, and Tess Soltau (Wicked, “The Good Fight”) as Stepsister Betany.

Two-time Tony Award nominee Jennifer Simard. Photo: Sarah Jenkins.

Broadway veteran Ryann Redmond. Photo: Courtesy of Vivacity Media.

Justin Guarini as Prince Charming. Photo: Emilio Madrid.

For more information, please visit https://onemoretimemusical.com/

The post Show featuring Britney Spears’ hits starts previews 5-13-23 appeared first on StageZine.

‘COMPANY’: Katrina Lenk. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

COMPANY
Music & lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by George Furth
Directed by Marianne Elliott
Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre
242 West 45th Street
(212-239-6200), https://companymusical.com/

By Scott Harrah

The latest Company revival could drive a critic (and purists) crazy with British director Marianne Elliott’s new, often confusing and very European spin on this masterpiece that has never needed tampering. Why?  It is the quintessential New York musical, a show renowned for its simplicity, sophistication and gorgeous score, featuring classics like “Being Alive,” “The Ladies Who Lunch,” “You Could Drive a Person Crazy,” “Another Hundred People,” “Getting Married Today” and others.  What’s offered here is a 21^st century perspective to dust off the narrative cobwebs and dated dialogue and make it relevant in 2021, but the score by Stephen Sondheim (who died last month) is so timeless that there was no need for a major overhaul here   More than 50 years have passed since Company first premiered on Broadway but much of the overall premise of the show rings true today.  Manhattan is still a maddening, overcrowded insane world with millions of people, and it’s still so easy to feel alone when you’re single.  This is certainly one of Mr. Sondheim’s greatest works, if not the best.  George Furth’s original book was—dare I say it?—ahead of its time back in 1970 when Company premiered on Broadway.  Many aspects of the show—tiny Manhattan apartments, expectations about getting married, the hustle and bustle of the New York City subway—are still relevant today.  Company is both an all-American musical and a paean to New York City, but Ms. Elliott’s interpretation (a hit in 2018 in London) has diminished many of the charms of the original show.

Director Marianne Elliott’s biggest change to the story is swapping the gender of lead character Bobby. Tony Award winner Katrina Lenk (The Band’s Visit) plays Bobbie, a single Manhattan woman celebrating her 35^th birthday.  Ms. Lenk has a great voice and an effervescent stage presence, but she appears too bland and emotionally distant for audiences to root for her, and this is problematic since the original Bobby was always the least interesting character in Company.

Marianne Elliott did such a superb job with the 2018 Broadway revival of Angels in America and the 2014 British import The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, so it is disappointing that she has added too much European-style excess here, from a scene showing Bobbie in the rain to various characters running through Bobbie’s bedroom during the “Barcelona” number in act two.  The last revival in 2006, starring Raul Julia as Bobby, was also very minimalist and featured gimmicky touches from another British director, John Doyle.  Remember how John Doyle had the actors play instruments onstage in the revival of Company and, in 2005, Sweeney Todd?  One of the changes that truly works is changing a straight couple to a gay couple. The character of Jamie (originally Amy) is played with manic exuberance by Matt Doyle as a gay man about to marry his partner Paul (Etai Benson).  Mr. Doyle truly stops the show with his outstanding rendition of “Getting Married Today.”  He displays all the nervous emotions of wedding-day jitters that both men and women, straight or gay, can relate to, and Mr. Doyle should certainly be a front-runner for a Tony Award in a few months.

Another standout is Tony nominee Jennifer Simard as Sarah, the diet-crazed woman married to recovering alcoholic Harry (Christopher Sieber).  Fans of Patti LuPone will not be disappointed with her take on the glamorous, acid-tongued Joanne, Bobbie’s oldest and dearest friend who loves to talk about her many husbands.  Ms. LuPone is her usual over-the-top self, belting out one of the show’s most famous songs, “The Ladies Who Lunch,” with her famous tough-diva pipes.

Scenic designer Bunny Christie mostly fills the stage with Neon-lit boxes and Mylar balloons in an attempt to make the show more contemporary, but doing so takes away some of the show’s New York accent.  Anyone who has at least studied the 1970 original remembers the set was actually a character in the show. Walter Kerr wrote in his 1970 New York Times review that the set by Boris Aronson “at first looks like the prison setting for ‘The Last Mile’ [but] becomes a breath-taking mobile, an interlocked Tinker-Toy of rippling platforms, sighing elevators, spun-glass spindles for dances to chin themselves on.”  In this revival, the set designs look nothing like New York City and could be Anywhere, USA.

Despite this revival’s many shortcomings, it is worth seeing Company simply for the score resurrected one more time to truly appreciate the late, great Mr. Sondheim and hear all the beautiful songs by the last of the great Broadway songsmiths.

Edited by David NouNou
Published December 12, 2021
Reviewed at December 11, 2021 press performance.

‘COMPANY’: (left to right) Christopher Sieber, Jennifer Simard, Katrina Lenk & Patti LuPone. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

‘COMPANY’: (left to right) Claybourne Elder, Manu Narayan, Bobby Conte. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

‘COMPANY’: Katrina Lenk & Claybourne Elder. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

‘COMPANY’: (left to right) Rashidra Scott, Katrina Lenk & Greg Hildreth. Photo: Brinkhoff-Moegenbur.

‘COMPANY’: Matt Doyle. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

‘COMPANY’: Katrina Lenk. Photo: Brinkhoff-Moegenburg.

‘COMPANY’: The cast. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

The post ‘Company’ revival could drive a critic crazy appeared first on StageZine.

‘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

The post ‘Disaster!’: Spoof misses the mark appeared first on StageZine.