‘FULLY COMMITTED’: Jesse Tyler Ferguson. Photo: Joan Marcus

FULLY COMMITTED
By Becky Mode
Based on characters created by Ms. Mode and Mark Setlock
Directed by Jason Moore
Through July 24, 2016
Lyceum Theatre
149 West 45th Street
(212-239-6200), www.FullyCommittedBroadway.com

By David NouNou

In comedy you either laugh at or laugh with the person. Instead, I found myself laughing for Fully Committed not because it’s that funny a play but for the recognition of its star, Jesse Tyler Ferguson. After all, when you are in the huge TV sitcom “Modern Family” and have been playing the part of Mitchell Pritchett since 2009, and have been coming to our living rooms since then, you are a member of the family.

The part of Sam, the reservation taker, of a super-trendy restaurant, was created in 1999 by Becky Mode and first performed at the Vineyard Theatre, an intimate space for an intimate show. The action takes place in the basement call center of a now in-demand restaurant for which reservations are made for the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow, attending with a party of 15 at the last minute with an absurdly regimented menu of all the no-no’s that cannot be served. There are about 40 different characters in total in the show, all equally obnoxious and neurotic, all with their own special demands.

The premise was cute, funny and a lot of inside jokes flew around that convulsed the audiences at the time. So much of comedy has changed since then that it is almost impossible to transfer this delicate piece to Broadway without a superstar with a schizophrenic personality. The late Robin Williams was such a chameleon, with voices as well as accents. Jefferson Mays, at this very theater, did I Am My Own Wife with magnificent results because his persona is bigger than life.

From his Mitchell Pritchett in “Modern Family” to his Chip in the abysmal 1998 revival of On The Town, and even as Leaf Coneybear in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Mr. Ferguson has always been blessed with a sweet-natured, affable and gentle demeanor. To play Sam effectively, you have to be an expert on accents and schizophrenically quick in changing that many personalities and giving each one its own distinct character. Unfortunately, most of the characters aren’t fleshed-out characters but voices Sam has to interact with on the telephone; from family, friends and bosses to lame customers with astounding demands. Sam has to take all the calls on this especially hectic day since his co-worker Bob is out and Sam has to deal with all these people alone.

Mr. Ferguson has the capability of moving at a frantic pace all over the stage but the characters and the voices somehow remain the same, static with hardly an inflection change; just raised eyebrows, nasal tones and fluttering hands make up the differences in most of the characters.

To play 40 different people in just 80 minutes where the voice and the attitude is in constant flux, you have to have a personality that is beyond bigger than life, dynamic, enigmatic and still maintain your sanity when your whole life is crumbling around you and still be in control of the situation. For that reason, we laugh “for” Mr. Ferguson due to his familiar endearing persona and the effort he puts in to deliver the goods.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published April 28, 2016
Reviewed at press performance on April 27, 2016

‘FULLY COMMITTED’: Jesse Tyler Ferguson. Photo: Joan Marcus

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