Sarah Silverman's THE BEDWETTER musical at Atlantic Theater Company - Previews

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 4/29/22 at 9:52am

BOOK BY JOSHUA HARMON & SARAH SILVERMAN
LYRICS BY ADAM SCHLESINGER & SARAH SILVERMAN
MUSIC BY ADAM SCHLESINGER

CREATIVE CONSULTANT DAVID YAZBEK
CHOREOGRAPHED BY BYRON EASLEY
DIRECTED BY ANNE KAUFFMAN

Originally set to premiere in the spring of 2020, we are pleased to announce new dates for The Bedwetter, a highly-anticipated new musical based on the bestselling memoir by Sarah Silverman, written with Joshua Harmon (Bad Jews), and featuring a sensational final score by our late friend Adam Schlesinger (Fountains of Wayne).

APRIL 30 – JUNE 26, 2022

[RippedMan]

Posted: 4/29/22 at 3:46pm

So excited for this! 

[GiantsInTheSky2]

Posted: 4/29/22 at 8:11pm

Wish they were drawing lottery a little earlier, lol. Hope to see this soon, big fan of Sarah Silverman. 

[uncageg]

Posted: 4/29/22 at 11:55pm

Seeing it near the end of May. Looking forward to it.

[gleek4114]

Posted: 4/30/22 at 8:07pm

Bumping for the first preview tonight, anyone going?

[TaffyDavenport]

Posted: 4/30/22 at 8:47pm

Just saw on Twitter that Caissie Levy has COVID and is missing tonight's first preview. 

[EvaPeron2]

Posted: 5/1/22 at 2:43pm

I have a pair of lottery tickets available for tonight’s performance that I can’t use. $30 each. PM me!

[NEC2412]

Posted: 5/1/22 at 2:55pm

pm'd!

[Kicks8567]

Posted: 5/4/22 at 1:50pm

Ticket has been sold. Please delete.

Updated On: 5/5/22 at 01:50 PM

[Dan6]

Posted: 5/6/22 at 1:01am

Seeing this tonight. Anyone know if Caissie Levy is back in?

[TaffyDavenport]

Posted: 5/6/22 at 1:12am

She tested positive last Saturday, so it's probably safe to say she won't be back until Tuesday the 10th.

[Dan6]

Posted: 5/6/22 at 2:33am

I figured that’s likely, but wasn’t Julianne Hough only out 5 or 6 days?

[gleek4114]

Posted: 5/6/22 at 10:12am

She confirmed on Instagram she will be back May 10th.

[aliceripleyofficial]

Posted: 5/6/22 at 2:06pm

anyone have something to say about the show...?

[Dan6]

Posted: 5/6/22 at 11:05pm

Saw tonight's preview. Caissie Levy is still out from her positive COVID test, but Lauren Marcus (who's been covering all week) was a strong understudy. The show is...fine. Nothing earthshaking, not nearly as strong as Kimberly Akimbo, and not something for which I see a future transfer, at least in its current form. The book is pretty solidly comic for the first act, then tries to tackle some far more serious mental health and family relationship issues in the second, but ends up doing so only in a mostly surface way (the word that came to my mind as I was leaving the theater was "slight" ). The set is functional and fairly lackluster (a couple of walls on turntables, a trap door lift used for one entrance, and stage hands moving various set pieces on and off in scene transitions. And while I obviously don't attribute this to the show, the audience tonight was particularly terrible...incessant talking, cell phone use, crinkling of bags, etc.

And yet, despite all of the above, I admit I enjoyed the evening a great deal. This is principally due to (1) the catchy music of the late Adam Schlesinger and strong lyrics of Schlesinger and Sarah Silverman, and (2) some great performances by a talented cast. Chief among the latter I would call out the delightful 14-year-old Zoe Glick as Sarah and the funny and moving Darren Goldstein as Sarah's dad (who has by far the show's best, raunchiest, and most hilarious song). Bebe of course is wonderful, with some great comic lines and a sweet and funny song in Act One, but really doesn't have a whole lot to do in Act Two. I can say that I laughed a lot and left the theater with a smile on my face, so if you go for that and without higher expectations, you'll have a fun evening. 

Running time was a little under two hours, including intermission. 

Updated On: 5/8/22 at 11:05 PM

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 5/7/22 at 12:47pm

Saw it last night. I was pretty taken with it. Maybe the funniest show I’ve seen post-reopening. The score is tuneful and hilarious, with great moments for all the characters to shine. It reminded me of Avenue Q or Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. SUPER catchy title song/finale. Yes some of the humor is juvenile, but it also gets to the root of this issue: bedwetting is, after all, an anxiety disorder, and this family has mental health issues and past trauma. I will say, the altercockers next to me were not loving the humor –– except the Jewish jokes (of which there are many).

Zoe Glick is a star as Sarah, the filthy-mouthed, mullet-having, bed-wetting 10-year-old at the center of the musical. The show would crumble with a bad lead. Beyond Sarah, Darren Goldstein might have been the biggest standout as her Dad (sounds a lot like Family Guy). Lauren Marcus, on for Caissie Levy as mom whose depression keeps her in bed, is wonderful, and she is sort of the emotional root of the story. Bebe Neuwirth (looking like Dick Cavett) is hilarious as the Manhattan-slugging grandma, and the songs suit the limitations of her singing voice. There’s a great trio of 3 teen girls. Rick Crom plays the men’s ensemble, hilariously –– and between this and Urinetown he now has ownership of the “pee musicals” genre!

So I’ve led with the good. The bad is the direction. The design is clunky, the staging is stagnant, and the material would be stronger in the hands of a director who understands musicals. Maybe Anne Kauffman will fix things with time, especially if it has a future life. It begs for someone with the inventiveness and comedic stylings of Alex Timbers or Matthew Warchus or Tina Landau. There’s an endearing scrappiness to the show overall, but it is still hurt by its directing.

Does anyone know what David Yazbek contributed to the score? He’s listed as “creative consultant,” and it is tragic that Adam Schlesinger is not here to see this on stage.

Tom Kirdahy and Barry & Fran Weissler are the commercial producers behind it, and unless this gets savaged by the critics, I could absolutely see it moving to Broadway on the strength of the material (not necessarily the strength of Silverman’s name). With the right ad campaign, this can definitely find an audience!

[Matt Rogers]

Posted: 5/11/22 at 10:39am

I thought this thing was God-awful. The lead girl could not be more annoying if she tried. The music is instantly forgettable. You would never know that Josh Harmon or Sarah Silverman had anything to do with this. It has none of Silverman's sharp humor and none of Harmon's usual emotional content. The audience sat in stone cold silence at all of the "jokes". Bebe Neuwirth is wasted in this. The sets are just plain ugly. If you can't get a ticket to this, count your lucky stars.

[KJisgroovy]

Posted: 5/11/22 at 4:39pm

I thought this was delightful. Small (but not slight), smart and a ton of heart. I laughed heartily and cried warmly. I don't see this production transferring but I do see it potentially having a longer life. I suppose the production could be recalibrated to a broadway-like scope but it really doesn't feel like that's the intention here. Right now it feels more like a fable than a drama. The ending feels a little unearned but it's so heartfelt and lovely I didn't really care. It felt like the "right" ending even if it was pure fantasy. It felt like a whimsical independent film from the early 2000s. It won't be everyone's cup of tea and I get that. But. It's hard for me to imagine any audiences siting in "stone cold silence" given the riotous responses on last Sunday night. 

[Matt Rogers]

Posted: 5/11/22 at 4:45pm

KJisgroovy said: " It's hard for me to imagine any audiences siting in "stone cold silence" given the riotous responses on last Sunday night."

There was certainly no riotous response last night. 

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 5/12/22 at 1:38pm

Has Caissie Levy had a performance yet? Oy, I feel bad for her. And today I learned what the Paxlovid pill is.

Lauren Marcus is really wonderful in the part –– I say this not as a dig to Levy (I didn't see her in it), but I'd gladly see Marcus continue with the role full-time based on her performance the other night.

[KJisgroovy]

Posted: 5/12/22 at 2:09pm

Marcus is great! I think I was expecting there to be more to the role given the casting of Stephanie J Block and Caissie Levy... even if you're a big Levy fan you're really just missing two numbers. 

[the.hard.part]

Posted: 5/12/22 at 2:18pm

I unfortunately needed to exchange my ticket so there is 1 access25 up on the site for this Saturday 2pm (as of 2:15pm)

[David10086]

Posted: 5/12/22 at 3:47pm

Silverman was on The View yesterday promoting her show which sounded good. Whoopi told her how amazing she is and how amazing the musical is, so that’s usually the kiss of death. 

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 5/12/22 at 4:03pm

David10086 said: "Silverman was on The View yesterday promoting her show which sounded good. Whoopi told her how amazing she is and how amazing the musical is, so that’s usually the kiss of death."

Is it a kiss of death, or merely a sign that Whoopi has not actually seen the show?

[Sauja]

Posted: 5/12/22 at 6:06pm

Was able to see this and am glad I did, but I’m of the mind that it’s not as special as it COULD be, which is a shame, as there really is a lot of talent involved. I feel like with the right director, they could do some significant revisions and make this a lean, mean 90 minutes show that would be hugely successful. But as it stands, the jokes aren’t really landing and neither are the big emotions. I don’t feel like it’s a casting problem or even (foremost) a writing problem. It just feels underdirected, and I as watched, all I could wonder was whether Anne Kauffman has directed a musical before (yes, but rarely, and on a small scale). I agree with Dan6: it’s no Kimberly Akimbo. But I’m a touch more sanguine about its chances of future success. I don’t think it will transfer as is, but with some real work and revision, they might have something.