Rinse, Repeat

B-

With seemingly increasing frequency, Pershing Square Signature Center has been renting space to outside productions, including this unfortunately titled drama written by and starring Domenica Feraud. A “problem” play about an eating disorder, it would have fit more comfortably as a disease-of-the-week offering on the Lifetime channel. Debilitated by a severe case of anorexia, Rachel had to take a leave from her senior year at Yale to enter a residential treatment facility where she has spent the last four months. The action takes place during a trial weekend at her family home in Greenwich, CT which will determine whether she is ready to be discharged. Her svelte mother Joan (Florencia Lozano; Placebo, Privilege) is a second-generation Latin immigrant who is now a high-powered lawyer in a top law firm and the family’s main breadwinner. Her father Peter (Michael Hayden; The Lady from Dubuque, Cabaret) is a preppy, not very successful architect who has burned through a trust fund. Her younger brother Brody (Jake Ryan Lozano; Sweat) is a high school jock who tries to avoid his family as much as possible. Her caseworker Brenda (Portia; In Arabia We’d All Be Kings) has given Rachel’s parents strict instructions that Rachel must not be left alone during the weekend, a caveat that you can be sure will soon be ignored, with consequences that reveal deep rifts within the marriage and a secret about Joan. The depiction of Rachel's struggle with food is vivid and one feels for her. She has a brief nude moment justified by the plot. However, I was so drawn in by the toxic family dynamic that I wondered more about the future of the marriage than about Rachel. The production is lavish with a kitchen set by Brittany Vasta (Octet, Life Sucks) sure to evoke envy and excellent costumes by Nicole Slaven. Kate Hopkins’s (Cost of Living, After the Blast) direction is assured. With its topic and its infelicitous title, it is not an easy play to market, which probably explained the sparse audience. That’s a shame, because it has many absorbing moments and some fine acting, particularly by Florencia Lozano. Running time: 95 minutes, no intermission.

Life Sucks.

C-

Playwright Aaron Posner has built a reputation adapting other authors’ works. Among those to have received the Posner treatment are Chaim Potok (I saw My Name Is Asher Lev several years ago and enjoyed it), Ken Kesey, Mark Twain, Kurt Vonnegut and, most recently, Anton Chekhov. First off was Stupid Fucking Bird, his take on The Seagull, which was well received. Then came No Sisters, his version of Three Sisters, which I don’t think has been seen in New York. Most recently, there is Life Sucks. which the program describes as “sort of adapted from Uncle Vanya.” Its Wheelhouse Theater Company production was dubbed a Critic’s Pick by the Times, so the show is now enjoying an encore run on Theatre Row with the same cast except for the title character. I’m afraid that I can’t join in the enthusiasm for the play. Posner’s method seems to involve using the F word as often as possible, adding a few contemporary touches such as a reference to student loans, and breaking the fourth wall not only to address the audience but to interrogate it. The list of characters mostly follows Chekhov except that family dependent “Waffles” has become “Pickles,” a lesbian, and Vanya’s mother has been replaced by a distant relative Babs, who is the closest thing to a well-adjusted character in the play. The acting is mostly solid. Austin Pendelton’s (Choir Boy) professor appeared so fragile that I feared he might not make it through the play. Kimberly Chatterjee (Pride and Prejudice) is a fine Sonia. Nadia Bowers (Describe the Night) is especially strong as the professor’s complicated wife Ella. Michael Schantz (Fashions for Men) is credible as Dr. Aster. Stacey Linnartz (Strange Bare Facts) does her best in the rather ludicrous role of Pickles. As Babs, Barbara Kingsley (August: Osage County) has almost nothing to do until late in the second act, when she commandeers the play for a lengthy reminiscence and a confession, neither of which remotely relates to Chekhov. Kevin Isola (Our Lady of 121st Street), who joined the cast as Vanya, seemed whinier than necessary. Except for a computer sitting on a table, the set by Brittany Vasta (Happy Birthday, Wanda Jane) with Tiffany lamps, floral wall hangings, generic furniture and a conspicuously unfinished back wall imprinted with instructions for the stagehands, could be anywhere anytime since the advent of electricity. The costumes by Christopher Metzger (Happy Birthday, Wanda Jane) are also nonspecific as to time or place. The direction by Jeff Wise (Happy Birthday, Wanda Jane) at times seemed sluggish, at other times indulgent. Aside for a few moments, such as the confrontation scene between Ella and Vanya, I was rarely moved. Perhaps if I had not seen Richard Nelson’s fine version at Hunter College this past season, I might have been more forgiving. In any case, this was not my cup of tea. Running time: two hours 30 minutes including intermission.

Octet

B-

Dave Malloy is the first musical writer to be included in Signature Theatre Company’s residency program and this is Signature’s first musical. Malloy (Preludes; Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812) is responsible for the music, lyrics, book and vocal arrangements. I suppose that success in three out of four is still admirable. The relative failure, in my humble opinion, is the book, which I found confusing, uneven, rambling and a bit pretentious. A two-sided insert in the program gives an eclectic list of Malloy’s inspirations. The eight marvelous singing actors (Adam Bashian, Kim Blanck, Starr Busby, Alex Gibson, Justin Gregory Lopez, J.D. Mollison, Margo Seibert and Kuhoo Verma) play members of a support group for internet addicts cryptically called “Friends of Saul,“ the name of the mysterious group recruiter that none of them has met. Their addictions include gaming, porno, dating apps, venting on sociopolitical sites, out-of-control information seeking and watching videos. In an extended detour during the second half, there is a section about the effects of the possible appearance of the deity on a group of scientists. Tarot also plays a role — each of the 12 songs is linked to a tarot card. (My confusion about the link to tarot was increased by the fact that I initially misheard the word as terror.) In only one of the songs does the internet play a positive role by linking a group member to someone just like her. For me the side trips into mysticism and spirituality detracted from rather than added to the book’s strength. The book’s shortcomings are, in large measure, balanced by the strength of the music, sung by excellent singers in creative a cappella arrangements. There are five group numbers and seven extended solos. The scenic design by Amy Bloom (Thom Pain) and Brittany Vasta (Happy Birthday Wanda June) realistically recreates a church social hall complete with the bingo equipment that must be stowed by the actors before the session begins. Brenda Abbandandolo’s (Continuity) costumes do not call attention to themselves. Much credit is due to music supervisor/director Or Matias (Natasha, Pierre…, Preludes). Annie Tippe’s (Ghost Quartet) direction tries too hard to enliven the proceedings. In short, I admired the show more than I enjoyed it. Honesty compels me to report that younger members of the audience responded with vociferous enthusiasm. Running time: one hour 45 minutes; no intermission.