Very brief thoughts on "What's that Smell..."

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Very brief thoughts on "What's that Smell..."

Posted: 11/29/08 at 4:29pm

Sensational performances by David Pittu and Peter Bartlett in a show that is funny for about 10 minutes (and that's being generous). The only bright spots in the script are Pittu's musical interludes.

Glad to see Chandra Lee Schwartz as one of the "students" - she's on my "Rising actors to watch" list. And she certainly is (one to watch).

re: Very brief thoughts on 'What's that Smell...'

Posted: 11/29/08 at 8:23pm

Show was a big disappointment for me. Bartlett just played an identical role in 'The New Century' a few months ago and has also done so in earlier shows. Snore.
Enough already with mocking the musical theater genre--yeah, there are a lot of gays involved; yeah, some source material seems unlikely for a musical; etc. etc. We've heard all these jokes before in countless shows.
Pittu was good, though I'd say "sensational" is rather generous. There were 2 or 3 good one-liners. The rest was sophomoric and unoriginal.

re: Very brief thoughts on 'What's that Smell...'

Posted: 12/1/08 at 11:36am

I went in really expecting to like it. I didn't understand what people were laughing at.
The only truly funny moment on Wednesday night was the vamping of the two when the music didn't start when Pittu was "playing". Other than that, I laughed maybe two or three times. There isn't anything deeper to this, so if it's not funny, what's left?

(Did I *have* to be gay to enjoy this? Is this why the Times loved it so much?)

- Gil http://www.broadwayabridged.com

re: Very brief thoughts on 'What's that Smell...'

Posted: 12/1/08 at 4:11pm

It really appears to be an overlong SNL skit that wears very thin even if you are gay. But more offensive was the song THAT GODDAMNED DAY about 9/11 and the whole 9/11 angle. Nothing funny to those of us who lost loved ones. It was just plain gauche.

re: Very brief thoughts on 'What's that Smell...'

Posted: 12/1/08 at 4:18pm

So far as appropriateness goes, I personally actually didn't have any problem with the 9/11 jokes because they were more about how stupid the character was about references to 9/11. But I'm not one who's really allowed to have an opinion on whether 9/11 jokes are "okay" because I didn't lose anybody in that tragic atrocity.

That said, I didn't find the 9/11 jokes *funny*. On a pure humor level, tasteless or not, they just weren't successful.

- Gil http://www.broadwayabridged.com

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