The Ritz (The SOB Review) - Studio 54, New York, NY* (out of ****)I hate it when I waste good money. I hate it even more when I see good talent wasted.
Both occurred when I checked out the latest, limp revival of
Terrence McNally's
The Ritz.
I can honestly say that this is the least satisfying show I've seen all year. The only thing truly shocking about this revival was how dull and lifeless it was. It ranks as one of director
Joe Mantello's most disappointing efforts yet, and makes his lackluster revival of
The Odd Couple seem like an all-out triumph.
For starters, with dated cultural touchstone references ranging from
Margaret Dumont to the
Andrews Sisters, the material feels as creaky as an unlubricated floor. As a farce, it's ridiculously predictable and flaccid. And despite all those hard bodies, it's anything but titillating, especially since this den of iniquity is showcased (via
Scott Pask's set design) with all the sterility of a doctor's office.
To be frank, I was bored silly even with the literally ball-busting turns by
Rosie Perez as Googie Gomez and
Kevin Chamberlin as Gaetano Proclo. A caricature of herself, Googie aspires to the type of
Bette Midleresque fame that could only originate in the bowels of the 70s gay baths. She's so bad that she's a wonder.
Googie meets up with fish-out-of-water Gaetano, thinking he's the producer who's going to provide her big show biz break, while in reality, he's hiding out in
The Ritz, ironically enough, to avoid getting whacked. The joke is that this is the last place on earth his brother-in-law would look. If only.
The only real highlight of this play is near the end of the first act when whacked-out Googie takes to the stage of
The Ritz and sings an insipid if it weren't so inspired medley of tunes slapped together from the deviously clever mind of
Seth Rudetsky. For one brief enjoyable moment,
The Ritz thrills before reverting back to the facile facscimile it is.
I can only wonder how truly awful the
first revival of
The Ritz had to be in order to close after just one night. I'm glad I don't have to find out.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Click here for tickets.Related Stories:Critics Check-In To The Ritz (October 12, 2007)
Vulture Scoops Up Kevin Chamberlin (October 11, 2007)
Tonight: Puttin' On The Ritz (October 11, 2007)
Before The Holidays Strike? (September 25, 2007)
The Ritz: Studio 54 To Transform Into Baths (May 31, 2007)
Labels: Joe Mantello, Kevin Chamberlin, Play, Revival, Rosie Perez, Terrence McNally, The Ritz, The SOB Review
Critics Check-In To The RitzLast evening, the second revival of
Terrence McNally's
The Ritz opened at
Studio 54. With one notable exception, critics on the whole seemed more eager for their check-out.
Hailing the revival as "even funnier" this go round in his three-and-a-half star review,
New York Post's
Clive Barnes is the most solidly positive: "McNally's written the best (
Georges) Feydeau farce since Feydeau, where eccentrics in seedy hotels chase one another wildly in search of love, or at least sex, in a merry-go-round of misunderstanding....Director
Joe Mantello, always in tune with McNally, has gotten a perfect ensemble performance. The adorable (
Kevin) Chamberlin is pitch-perfect as Proclo....But if you need just one reason to visit
The Ritz, I can give it to you in two words:
Rosie Perez."
Calling it a "spirited if essentially hollow revival,"
Rob Kendt in
Newsday offers a tepid review: "Of course,
The Ritz doesn't run on such poignance but on Swiss-watch comic timing. At its best, Mantello's cast whirls around
Scott Pask's multi-storied set like figures on a cuckoo-clock face, with the fey, needy Chris (
Brooks Ashmanskas) as a kind of benign ringmaster. But for all the spring in its step, the play can't help but show its age."
While noting that the "hilarity seems a little forced," the Associated Press'
Justin Bergman offers a mildly positive review: "McNally captured that 1970s underground gay sex scene so remarkably well, it feels fresh and lively three decades later. This probably has as much to do with the
Roundabout Theatre Company's ambitious restaging of
The Ritz on Broadway, though, as it does with McNally's play. The Roundabout has assembled a delightful cast, including Rosie Perez, Kevin Chamberlin and former gay porn star
Ryan Idol who looks far too comfortable dressed only in a sheer white towel."
Dismissing it as a "sporadically funny revival
," The New York Times'
Ben Brantley sniffs: "Well, yesterday’s dirt, as is often the case, has become today’s dust. This latest revival of
The Ritz...is cute, cuddly and often oddly inert....Stripped of the amyl-nitrite-scented clouds of novelty that clung to it 32 years ago, the show is exposed as a friendly, conventional sitcom for the stage. And though it features ace performances by Ms. Perez and by Kevin Chamberlin as a visitor from the planet of the heteros, Joe Mantello’s direction rarely revs up to the dizzy velocity that farce demands."
Complaining "how seldom the fitfully funny comedy gets off the ground,"
Joe Dziemianowicz of New York's
Daily News writes: "Director Joe Mantello is aces at creating still moments....Mantello is less skillful when things are in motion. Slapstick chases and physical business, like when Googie accosts Proclo on a bed, are clumsy. What should be airy ends up a cement soufflé. Chamberlin, a fine comic actor, sets the wrong tone. He's too low-key lovable and not jangled enough. Perez injects Spanglish, spark and spunk, especially in her intentionally off-key medley, a scene that now suffers from been- there, seen-this, a million times."
Lamenting that its original "outrageousness now feels a little mummified,"
David Rooney of
Variety pans: "Terrence McNally's 1975 comedy mostly groans along as a pallid echo of a time both wilder and more innocent, when gay sex was still a risque subject. As in his starry but unsatisfying revival of
The Odd Couple two seasons back, Joe Mantello's slick direction is not always employed to best effect in comedy. In his overproduced staging of
The Ritz, he plays it broad, fast and loud but reveals no feel for farce, which requires a deft balance of giddiness and precision that also eludes most of his cast. What's more distressing, however, is that Mantello lacks any special insight into the era so affectionately captured by McNally."
Unlike the
last, ill-fated revival at another former disco den called
Xenon, this revival will move beyond one regular performance. I'll be taking in the show shortly and providing my SOB Review soon after.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Click here for tickets.Related Stories:Vulture Scoops Up Kevin Chamberlin (October 11, 2007)
Tonight: Puttin' On The Ritz (October 11, 2007)
Before The Holidays Strike? (September 25, 2007)
The Ritz: Studio 54 To Transform Into Baths (May 31, 2007)
Labels: Broadway, Critics' Capsule, Joe Mantello, Kevin Chamberlin, Play, Revival, Rosie Perez, Terrence McNally, The Ritz
Tonight: Puttin' On The RitzIt's been 32 years since
Terrence McNally's
The Ritz first opened on the Great White Way.
Tonight, the revival of this steam sex farce opens at a venue that seem entirely apropos:
Studio 54. Helmed by
Joe Mantello -- arguably Broadway's current top director --
The Ritz stars
Kevin Chamberlin and
Rosie Perez.
The original production
ran for almost a year, but this limited run is scheduled through December 2.
Will the critics find the new production to be dated? Look for my critics' capsule tomorrow.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Click here for tickets.
Related Stories:Before The Holidays Strike? (September 25, 2007)
The Ritz: Studio 54 To Transform Into Baths (May 31, 2007)
Labels: Broadway, Joe Mantello, Kevin Chamberlin, Opening Night, Play, Revival, Rosie Perez, Terrence McNally, The Ritz
