Baghdaddy

B-

An earlier production of this clever musical was a Times Critic’s Pick two years ago when the show was burdened with the title “Who’s Your Baghdaddy Or How I Started the Iraq War.” Now it is playing at St. Luke’s Theatre. The location is appropriate, because the opening scene is set in a church basement. There’s free coffee and donuts onstage before the play as if we were gathered for an AA meeting. This support group, however, is not for alcoholics, but for the CIA operatives responsible for the Iraq War. Whether through stubbornness, careerism, delusion, error or deception, each has done something that leads to war. We also meet a junior agent in the German intelligence service, whose knowledge of Arabic leads to his being assigned to interrogating an Iraqi defector, code name “Curveball,”  who claims he worked on building mobile labs for the manufacture of biological weapons back in Iraq. When the German agency seeks technical assistance from the CIA, complications multiply. The talented cast (Brennan Caldwell, Jason Collins, Bob D’Haene, Brandon Espinoza, Joe Joseph, Claire Neumann, Larisa Oleynik and Ethan Slater) perform with gusto. The music by Marshall Pailet (who also directs) is eclectic, the lyrics by A.D. Penedo are often clever, and the book by both of them, based on an unproduced screenplay by J.T. Allen, is almost consistently lively. The choreography by Misha Shields adds fun. The barebones set by Caite Hevner suits the production. My only quibble is that it could benefit from a slight trim. The play is certainly timely as the prospect of getting into a war by accident seems all too real. Running time: two hours, including intermission.

Triassic Parq, The Musical *

(Please click on the title to see the entire review.)
After suffering through "Silence: The Musical" [reviewed 2/27/12], I should have learned my lesson and avoided all musical spoofs of hit movies. Nevertheless, when the opportunity arose to see this send-up of "Jurassic Park" at minimal cost, curiosity got the better of me and I headed to the SoHo Playhouse. While not without redeeming features, especially an appealing and talented cast, the muddled book caused my interest to evaporate long before the 90 minutes were over. It's the kind of downtown show that might be a lot more amusing after a few drinks. Wade McCollum, Lindsay Nicole Chambers and Shelley Thomas are stand-outs in a strong cast. Brandon Espinoza, as Mime-a-saurus, steals every scene he is in. Marshall Pailet's music is lively, but the book by Pailet, Bruce Norbitz and Stephen Wargo, is lame. Caite Hevner's set an Dina Perez's costumes are amusingly clever.  Pailet also directed.