THE HANGOVER REPORT – #DATEME’s hybrid exploration of online dating is amiable and harmless

The company of "#DateMe: An OkCupid Experiment" by Robyn Lynne Norris at the Westside Theatre. Photo by Jeremy Daniel.

The company of “#DateMe: An OkCupid Experiment” by Robyn Lynne Norris at the Westside Theatre. Photo by Jeremy Daniel.

Last night, I caught up with #DateMe downstairs at the Westside Theatre. The Off-Broadway show is enticingly subtitled “An OkCupid Experiment”. This alludes to the show’s premise, which theatricalizes the true story of one Robyn Lynne Norris’s search for true love on the (in)famous online dating platform. When Robyn realizes that she gets more attention the more outrageous her profile is, she decides to create multiple fictitious personas to test her dating marketability.

The show is an amiable hybrid between musical theater, improv comedy sketches, and documentary theater. For the most part, the show doesn’t tell us anything we didn’t already know – no, there are no algorithms for romantic love (surprise!) – but it’s all unabashedly good natured, harmless fun that’s hard not to have an enjoyable time at. I just wish that #DateMe delved more seriously into the genuine heartache and frustration of the online dating process and experience.

Happily, the show benefits from the smart direction by Lorin Latarro, who gives the show the kind of slick production that helps puts a shiny gloss on arguably pedestrian, predictable material. She and her quick-witted cast of six do a marvelous job of creating a seamless experience. Indeed, that the show unfolds as smoothly as it does is a testament to their skill and ease with various modes of performance.

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#DATEME: AN OKCUPID EXPERIMENT
Off-Broadway, Musical
Westside Theatre (Downstairs)
2 hours (with one intermission)
Through October 13

Categories: Off-Broadway, Theater

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