Theatre Boys, 13th Street Repertory

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Theater Boys

13th Street Repertory, New York, NY, September 25, 2014

Reviewed by Rob Lester for Cabaret Scenes

Theater-Boys-Chip-Deffaa_Cabaret-Scenes-Magazine_212“Memorable!”: Some show-going experiences stick with us for years, despite the lack of a cast album or revivals to refresh the memory. Here’s one that stuck for me, though both those “lacks” just got taken care of. Theater Boys, written and directed by the savvy and versatile Chip Deffaa, is a gay-themed musical I saw several years ago. Back with new young faces—or you might say back with new backsides—as there’s a bit of semi-nudity in the all-male cast in the story about a stage director who’s better at getting his actors out of their clothes than getting himself out of his budget crisis. But this show is more than skin-deep in its skinny-dipping scene and other moments. Poking fun at shows whose lure may be the bare essentials (one guy’s claim to fame was dusting his way to attention in Naked Maids Dusting), the piece dusts off double entendres and some classic show biz styles. What begins as a high-energy romp also admirably mixes the worlds of comedy and drama. The drama is saved for Act Two’s extended flashbacks, showing us how the director and his latest “discovery” dealt with their high school years. Throughout Act One, however, we’re entertained with often broad winks at twinks and peppy musical numbers.

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 In the story, newbie, Kipp (likeable Michael Czyz), is self-conscious, while the other auditionees are self-involved as self-congratulatory. Theater Boys will be boys—boisterous boys, bragging boys, bitchy boys, boys hung up on other boys and celebrities.

The plucky ode to joy, “Under the Chilliwack Moon,” finds veteran Mr. Deffaa and young Mr. Czyz brimming with ingratiating exuberance.
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  And audiences may also be over the moon with a mega-medley of other moon tunes.  Songs and sensibilities please in revealing the tunesmith’s fondness for spunky and tuneful old-school musical comedy and vaudeville.

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(His earlier and current-season shows have knowledgeably embraced George M. Cohan, Irving Berlin, Fanny Brice and Eddie Foy and family, that one proving Foys will be Foys.

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 His Berlin cavalcade is soon to open and his recent two-person, song-stuffed Irving Berlin’s America was both delightful and extremely touching, with Michael Townsend Wright as Berlin at age 101 looking back on his life and oeuvre, sharing the stage with Broadway’s super-talented, dramatically charismatic 17-year-old sensation, Giuseppe Bausilio, a Billy Elliot boy who went on to Newsies.)

With its line-up of one-liners putting the focus on zip more than unzipping, Theater Boys had me laughing a lot, although—for comedy’s sake—logic and reality can be pesky things Deffaa defies. Daffier elements ask us to believe that even the dimmest naif could be convinced his director knew a pre-20th century historical figure, or that this cash-strapped man would long delay opening one package that supposedly is filled with money and another with a valuable “secret” to success, gifted by Stephen Sondheim. That is, if we or the “Boys” even believe the tales of the director’s brushes with fame. The writer and his actors succeed in turning what could be sleaze and tease into a sure-to-please comic field day, sweetly substituting charm for smarm. Joseph Spitale doesn’t settle for a surface smirky portrayal of the director fueled by bravado and lust, nor does director Deffaa directing the “director.” Spitale’s spiffy strut through a not-so-hidden agenda, urging a Kipp strip done nobly “For the Theater” is a percolating hoot. While the pastiches have pizzazz, two distractingly owe too much to role models—however, one has wisely been refurbished with a new melody since the opening and recording. For more period flavor and nostalgia, a few very old songs originally written in heterosexual contexts are mixed in, such as “My Man,” which was a signature for the aforementioned Fanny Brice and is also in the playwright-director’s one-woman One Night with Fanny Brice, sharing the calendar at the venue with this musical and other offerings this season (two performances this week).

The guys with stars in their eyes and a song in their hearts jump in for—and with—joy. Theater Boys is at its best when at its most acerbic, sly, or (finally) real. Seen in a final preview, it could have used some toning down here and there in some of the longer or shriller rants, preening and prancing. But I laughed plenty and the audience around me did, too. There are some inside theater references that are fun, but don’t fret if references to the Keenan-Bolgers and such don’t ring a bell. It’s no more strictly for the theater maven than it is a haven just for a gay audience. The inclusion of the character a former TV child star (Taylor Martin playing up the ego and protestations) vehemently clinging to his heterosexual public image brings a nice twist. Denial is also played for laughs with a very “out” figure skater-turned-actor protesting in song that he’s “over” his ex.
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 While a few roles are double cast, figure on Joris de Graaf as the figure skater, adding spice, with a Cheshire Cat grin and a mischievous look in his eyes when he’s not rolling them in appropriate reactions.

Rather than settle for another gale of giggles in the latter half, things get nicely warm and fuzzy without totally divorcing the human comedy. Faced with religion-enforced taboos and hesitancy about hormones and homosexuality, two pairs of teens stumble and tip-toe their way through the dance of mutual attraction, rarely in step with each other. Tension and frustration are well played. Andrew Lanctot especially impresses in convincingly blending sarcasm with sensitivity, confidence with caution, making for a particularly well-rounded and sympathetic portrayal. He’s quite compelling; a telling “Tell Me Why” is sung with just the right zing.

Sam Donnenberg magnetically—and with seeming ease—captures naturalism and astutely provides the extra wistful layer of someone remembered as idolized and idealized. Magnetic to the max, we hate to see him fade into the mists of memory.

Philip Louis Calabro and Ben Orlando share the role of former naked maid Rocky, and Daniel Coelho and Will Meredith share flashback duties playing the coveted but (maybe) resistant Nathan. Mark Andrew Garner, hired as the all-purpose understudy, has been given an ensemble role when not otherwise engaged.  While a few sometimes bubbled over to the point of overboard, everyone I saw showed energy and focus, playing the laughs and longing. And playing the piano with just the right spirit is Mr. Deffaa’s frequent musical director, the reliable Richard Danley. Longtime 13th Street Rep figure Sandra Nordgren, whose adaptation of A Christmas Carol impressed me mightily on this same stage, is the producer and she seems to have a hit here. Theater Boys, a play with playfulness, increasing warmth, and a cheeky curtain call, could certainly extend its announced limited run and be another treat still running with glee this coming yuletide season. Doff ye now that gay apparel and deck the halls with lots of ha-ha:  Chip Deffaa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la.                           

13th Street Repertory Company is at 50 West 13 Street in Manhattan.  For more info, schedule, tickets, see www.

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13thstreetrep.org  See http://www.chipdeffaa.com/theaterboys.html for more on the show and its history.

The cast albums of Mr. Deffaa’s shows are on Original Cast Records and available at www.Footlight.com and www.cdbaby.com

Rob Lester

2015 is native New Yorker Rob Lester's eighth year as contributing writer, beginning by reviewing a salute to Frank Sinatra, whose recordings have played on his personal soundtrack since the womb. (His Cabaret Scenes Foundation member mom started him with her favorite; like his dad, he became an uber-avid record collector/ fan of the Great American Songbook's great singers and writers.) Soon, he was attending shows, seeking out up-and-comers and already-came-ups, still reading and listening voraciously. He also writes for www.NiteLifeExchange.com and www.TalkinBroadway.com, has been cabaret-centric as awards judge, panel member/co-host, and produces benefit/tribute shows, including one for us.