Hell Is For Real
Part of The Fringe Festival
Theatre 80, NYC, August 16, 2015
Reviewed by Rob Lester for Cabaret Scenes
While an August heat wave can make us want to wave goodbye and good riddance to another hot summer, another annual wave is upon Manhattan. And that is the wave of over 100 new plays — many of them musicals — called the New York International Fringe Festival. While the Fringe, running through August 30 with several performances of each show, welcomes the non-traditional, edgy, wacky, and irreverent, it takes real talent and smarts to come up with something truly original and laugh-out-loud funny. Hell Is for Real is that, for real.
An anguished, dedicated single father finds that, in a Twilight Zone-worthy mix-up, his young son has been to Hell and back, quite literally, and the Devil is in the (hilariously funny) details. Unpredictable plot twist after twisted logic moment, the show entertains with outrageous events and personalities while keeping a believable sweetness in the dad’s concern for his child, thanks to a grounded, sympathetic performance by Christopher Sutton as the father. His song, “I Wish That I Believed,” when he admits his lack of faith in God while expressing a desire for the comfort it would bring, is quite moving amid the whirlwind of absurd goings-on. Adult actress Madeline Kolker pulls off the rare trick of capturing the behaviors and attitudes of a high-energy, antsy young boy without becoming cloying or a cartoon. A top-notch company scores again and again, some in multiple roles. Lori Hammel mines many moments for great comic payoff, with superb timing and delicious reactions spurring frequent applause. Her number, “There Is Nothing More That I Can Say” is a true showstopper. Timothy Warmen is a cool-as-a-cucumber Lucifer amid the fires of Hell. The various punishments and habits of Hell—with dancing– would be daunting to Dante.
It’s especially notable that this is the very first musical by Gary Apple (book, music, and lyrics) for the whip-smart writing and spunk and savvy in the songs indicate someone who has absorbed the lessons of what musical comedy panache is all about. Jay Stern’s direction and Lorna Ventura’s musical staging/choreography add polish and pleasure, bringing out extra levels of comic fizz. Packed with laughs and using edgy adult humor and rough language sparingly, but effectively, it doesn’t seem to push the envelope beyond the goodwill of the audience. And, yes, God shows up, too, and is, well, quite down to earth in His logic and tone. This is the kind of show I can see having a real life beyond the Festival.
See www.fringenyc.org for full schedule of all shows.
