Review: Durang's Adrift in Macao in Philly
Review: Durang's Adrift in Macao in Philly
Review: Durang's Adrift in Macao in Philly#0
Posted: 10/29/05 at 10:34am
Hi everyone,
I went to see "Adrift in Macao" last night at the Plays and Players Theater in Philadelphia. It has a book and lyrics by Christopher Durang and music by Peter Melnick. (I'm directing a Durang one act right now, so the whole cast and crew went together.)
It's a very, very silly show, as you would probably expect from Durang (but it isn't that disturbing- no incest or murderous nuns!). It's a parody of film noir, most notably Casablanca. Lureeena, a nightclub singer, is in Macao without a dime. She starts working for Rick Shaw (yes, really), who runs a bar, kicking out the previous "singer." A random mysterious film noir guy, Mitch, also shows up, in search of a Mr. McGuffin (yes, really). Along for the ride is Rick's piano-playing assistant, Tempura (yes, really). Hijinks ensue.
In its broad outlines, the show reminded me a bit of Urinetown as it goes through every cliche in the film noir book. Unfortunately, the plot itself isn't that funny or original. But Durang's writing is, as always, uniquely hilarious, and the pace is always quick. The music is and somewhat catchy, but not really that notable. And I'm not sure if Durang is very good at writing lyrics- some of the songs sound like prose set to music. And I wished there had been more ensembles in the first half; it seemed like a series of solos.
All that being said, it's really a very fun and silly little show. The cast is quite good, particularly the women (Rachel deBenedt and Michele Ragusa), and occasionally land Durang's one-liners with absolute perfection. The costumes were amusing, and the lighting was good if a little over-busy sometimes. Not every moment works, but enough do to make it a good time.
We are planning on using the final song, which had a very annoyingly insistent melody, for a vocal warmup next rehearsal so we hopelessly confuse the one guy who didn't go.
Thanks for reading.
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