VIEWPOINTS – Parody on Broadway: Isn’t it time for something new?

ReducedLongLostLast night, I attended a performance of the Reduced Shakespeare Company’s William Shakespeare’s Long Lost First Play (abridged) (RECOMMENDED) at the Folger Theatre in Washington, DC. This gifted comic trio delivered the goods in a show that’s essentially a low-brow mash-up of most of Shakespeare’s plays. 400 hundred years after his death, Shakespeare must be either turning in his grave or laughing himself silly. However, despite the well-executed, often inspired shenanigans of this harmless spoof, at more than one point during the performance, I wondered whether the novelty of the referential parody was beginning to wear off on me.

At some point around the turn of this new century – at approximately the same time that king (or queen?) of camp, Charles Busch, went mainstream with his The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife and the mega-hit musical adaptation of Mel Brooks’ The Producers arrived on and dominated Broadway – the golden age of the parody, particularly campy self-referential musicals, commenced. Before then, such shows were the darlings of the Off-Broadway scene, but they hardly ever found success uptown. But since the fateful opening of The Producers on the Great White Way, irreverence has been all the rage on Broadway. Musicals like Urinetown, Spamalot, The Drowsy Chaperone, The Book of Mormon, and A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder have proved to be both critical and commercial successes.

Something Rotten B-RollBut is this a healthy trend in commercial theater? I beg to play devil’s advocate and question the artistic value of these parodies, however witty the material and well-performed they may be. Some may argue that these comedies take the easy way out, inducing cheap, self-congratulatory laughter from the audience by making them feel smart. The prime example of this was the double whammy served up by last season’s Something Rotten! (which was re-enforced by a cabaret show I recently caught at Feinstein’s/54 Below entitled Something Really Rotten, at which outtakes from the musical were performed by the cast currently at the St. James), which not only played on audiences’ knowledge of Shakespeare but also of musical theater. But is this real art and should our Broadway real estate be tied up with these long-running shows?

Gone are the days when Noël Coward’s urban wit and Neil Simon’s earnest, warm-hearted brand of humor were the toast of Broadway. Indeed, Mr. Simon’s last foray on Broadway was David Cromer’s commercially disastrous 2009 revival of Brighton Beach Memoirs, which was supposed to but never played in repertory with another Simon play, Broadway Bound (the latter didn’t even begin previews when the producers decided to pull the plug on the project). Times have indeed changed; Brighton Beach Memoirs, which won the 1983 Tony for Best Play, didn’t even last a week after opening night. That’s why it’s so refreshing – and important – that a play like Stephen Karam’s The Humans is finding success on Broadway. Its humor comes from a very real place, often from a place of pain and shame. Like Pagliacci the clown, we laugh because we would otherwise cry, which makes the comedy essential. The Humans is easily the funniest, not to mention the best, straight play of the Broadway season. Take that, Fully Committed and An Act of God.

 

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE’S LONG LOST FIRST PLAY (ABRIDGED)
Regional, Play
Reduced Shakespeare Company at Folger Theatre (Washington, DC)
1 hour, 45 minutes (with one intermission)
Through May 8

REALLY SOMETHING ROTTEN
Cabaret
Feinstein’s/54 Below
1 hour, 30 minutes (without an intermission)
Closed (although you can see Something Rotten at the St. James Theatre)

Categories: Broadway, Cabaret, Off-Broadway, Theater

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