How fourteen people morph themselves into an ensemble this talented and this supportive of one another is one of those fabulous miracles that reminds you what theatre is all about. This is a fabulous evening.
The evening is made up of seven short, very short, plays about love. The ideas are fresh, the dialogue spare, and the acting is top-notch. A high school student is ready to kill herself when dumped just before the prom and calls the wrong kind of hotline. Two bitter bridesmaids are dry as a bone while they spew little bits of venom all over a wedding. Groom and Best Man get stuck in the elevator on the way to the ceremony and truth is the order of the day. A hooker and her “date” experience a “morning after” of a different sort. A man deceives his ex-fiancée in order to get her back. A little boy and his father create a new bedtime ritual after the divorce. A streetwalker bumps into her past by chance.
In between these plays are songs that feature each actor from the previous story with songs that place love’s frustrations and dreams center stage. People yearn for something more than the relationship they have or don’t have. People are looking to be saved. Someone is about to get dumped because someone else cannot take their mouth (makes sense if you think about it). Someone will always be found dancing solo. Someone wants to change for the one they love. Someone is lovesick. Again.
And through it all there is an undercurrent of WTF???? Why do we do this over and over again? The answer worms its way through to the show’s conclusion: pretty much because that is the way we are wired. If we didn’t have other people to chase after and think about what would we really do? Think about WORK??? And what would we write about? Probably nothing because we would be so friggin’ bored.
While the theme is the same-old, same-old, this show is anything BUT. Lia Romeo has shoved a spade into the tired old garden of love and turned over fresh new earth. Her writing is a pleasure and this cast delivers.
This is an ensemble of remarkable talent. Each actor has a chance to shine and each one does so both dramatically and musically. They share the stage because each of them loves to be where they are. They care for and support one another. They laugh at each other’s jokes.
This is an intimate look at love in the equally intimate Theatre C at 59E59. This is so delicious an evening that a person could be arrested for acting more like a voyeur than an observer.
LOVESICK or THINGS THAT DON’T HAPPEN - By Lia Romeo, Conceived and Directed by Michole Biancosino
WITH Rian Alfiero, Joachim Boyle, Elizabeth Elkins, Barrett Hall,Melissa Hammans, Pat McRoberts, Michael Nathanson, Andrew William Smith, Teresa Stephenson, Aidan Sullivan, Jeff Tuohy, Joe Varca, Dessica Varley and Lisa Velten Smith
Set Design Kevin Judge, Lighting Design Ben Hagen, Costume Design Judy Bowman
59E59 Theaters (EIYSabeth...! Kleinhans, Artistic Director; Peter Tear, Executive Producer) welcom~ Project Y Theatre Company with the world premiere of the anti-musical LOVESICK or THINGS THAT DON'T HAPPEN for a limited engagement through Saturday, February 25. The performance schedule is Tuesday - Thursday at 7:30 PM; Friday and Saturday at 8:30 PM; and Sunday at 3:30 PM. Performances are at 59E59 Theaters (59 East 59th Street, between Park and Madison Avenues). Tickets are $25 ($17.50 for 59E59 Members). To purchase tickets, call Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200 or go to www.5ge59.org.
