Cabaret Scenes Theatre Review

With Broadway screaming for more ticket-buying young audiences, Lysistrata Jones at the Walter Kerr Theatre seems to fit the bill. Not that its flimsy predictability should be included in any future “Greatest Musicals of All Time” collection, but the sparkling pop score, ebullient cast and some imaginative choreography is bouncing up a drab season for musicals. Directed and choreographed by Dan Knechtges, with Lewis Flinn’s score and a lighthearted book by Douglas Carter Beane (Xanadu), Lysistrata Jones was recently a promising little production at the Judson Memorial Church. Obviously, with so few musicals scheduled for this fall season on Broadway, someone thought, “Let’s give this one a go.”

The plot is adapted from Aristophanes’s comedy, Lysistrata, where the women withheld sex to force their husbands to put an end to the Peloponnesian War. This idea would not fly so well in today’s world, so Beane tweaked things a bit, centering Lysistrata Jones at Athens University with a basketball team that hasn’t won a game in 33 years. Chipper blonde cheerleader Lyssie (Lysistrata) Jones, played by another chipper blonde, Patti Murin, must read Aristophanes’ play for class. Scanning the SparkNotes, she has an idea. Since her jock boyfriend, Mick (Josh Segarra), is the team captain, she rounds up her girlfriends and other cheerleaders and together they vow “No More Giving It Up” until the team wins a game. Surely this will inspire the lackluster athletes who choose partying over basketball. For the guys, if the dry spell gets too much for them, there is always the Eros Motor Lodge where ladies of the evening are ready to accommodate their needs.

There is a requisite cast of characters spanning all cultures. The young talents include Murin, indefatigable as Lyssie, determined and earnest, qualities that hint she might someday be voted most likely to succeed. She gives her all in a robust “Where Am I Now?,” closing Act I. Hunky but bland Segarra’s Mick surprisingly turns out to show a leaning toward poetry. With street-wise sass, LaQuet Sharnell plays Myrrhine, an African-American coed in an interracial romance with basketball player, Cinesias (Alex Wyse). Lindsay Nicole Chambers, as classmate Robin, the intellectual poet/librarian, has some hilarious moments, and the class computer nerd, Xander, is portrayed with great likeable charm by Jason Tam. Out of this gang, who do you think ends up with whom?

Hetaira (Liz Mikel), a wise commanding goddess, as well as a madam at the Eros Motor Lodge, serves as narrator/adviser. Watching and commenting on the goings-on, she freely gives her lusty opinions. Mikel has been seen frequently on TV’s Friday Night Lights, but in this notable Broadway debut, she projects an ample voice and presence, with an Act II opener, “Writing on the Wall.”

Allen Moyer created a Technicolor set serving all purposes, including a basketball court and motor lodge, effusively lighted by Michael Gottlieb. Costumes by David C. Woolard and Thomas Charles LeGalley blend a quirky mix of contemporary cute and Grecian draping. Lewis Flinn’s score is all about today, using a band above the stage to bring this slight story together with high octane hip-hop, pop and rap. Knechtges’s creative choreography is especially zesty with the basketball and cheerleading sequences, and he directs it all with enthusiasm and fluidity.

While the basic plot of Lysistrata Jones has an impressive provenance, talented cast and plenty of energy, at the end of the day, it is a millennium age bubble-gum musical.

(Pictured: Kat Nejat, Nicole Chambers, Patti Murin, LaQuet Sharnell, Katie Boren. Photo by Joan Marcus)

Elizabeth Ahlfors
Cabaret Scenes
December 16, 2011
www.cabaretscenes.org



	Lysistrata Jones Water Kerr Theatre New York, NY
With Broadway screaming for more ticket-buying young audiences, Lysistrata Jones at the Walter Kerr Theatre seems to fit the bill. Not that its flimsy predictability should be included in any future “Greatest Musicals of All Time” collection, but the sparkling pop score, ebullient cast and some imaginative choreography is bouncing up a drab season for musicals. Directed and choreographed by Dan Knechtges, with Lewis Flinn’s score and a lighthearted book by Douglas Carter Beane (Xanadu), Lysistrata Jones was recently a promising little production at the Judson Memorial Church. Obviously, with so few musicals scheduled for this fall season on Broadway, someone thought, “Let’s give this one a go.” The plot is adapted from Aristophanes’s comedy, Lysistrata, where the women withheld sex to force their husbands to put an end to the Peloponnesian War. This idea would not fly so well in today’s world, so Beane tweaked things a bit, centering Lysistrata Jones at Athens University with a basketball team that hasn’t won a game in 33 years. Chipper blonde cheerleader Lyssie (Lysistrata) Jones, played by another chipper blonde, Patti Murin, must read Aristophanes’ play for class. Scanning the SparkNotes, she has an idea. Since her jock boyfriend, Mick (Josh Segarra), is the team captain, she rounds up her girlfriends and other cheerleaders and together they vow “No More Giving It Up” until the team wins a game. Surely this will inspire the lackluster athletes who choose partying over basketball. For the guys, if the dry spell gets too much for them, there is always the Eros Motor Lodge where ladies of the evening are ready to accommodate their needs. There is a requisite cast of characters spanning all cultures. The young talents include Murin, indefatigable as Lyssie, determined and earnest, qualities that hint she might someday be voted most likely to succeed. She gives her all in a robust “Where Am I Now?,” closing Act I. Hunky but bland Segarra’s Mick surprisingly turns out to show a leaning toward poetry. With street-wise sass, LaQuet Sharnell plays Myrrhine, an African-American coed in an interracial romance with basketball player, Cinesias (Alex Wyse). Lindsay Nicole Chambers, as classmate Robin, the intellectual poet/librarian, has some hilarious moments, and the class computer nerd, Xander, is portrayed with great likeable charm by Jason Tam. Out of this gang, who do you think ends up with whom? Hetaira (Liz Mikel), a wise commanding goddess, as well as a madam at the Eros Motor Lodge, serves as narrator/adviser. Watching and commenting on the goings-on, she freely gives her lusty opinions. Mikel has been seen frequently on TV’s Friday Night Lights, but in this notable Broadway debut, she projects an ample voice and presence, with an Act II opener, “Writing on the Wall.” Allen Moyer created a Technicolor set serving all purposes, including a basketball court and motor lodge, effusively lighted by Michael Gottlieb. Costumes by David C. Woolard and Thomas Charles LeGalley blend a quirky mix of contemporary cute and Grecian draping. Lewis Flinn’s score is all about today, using a band above the stage to bring this slight story together with high octane hip-hop, pop and rap. Knechtges’s creative choreography is especially zesty with the basketball and cheerleading sequences, and he directs it all with enthusiasm and fluidity. While the basic plot of Lysistrata Jones has an impressive provenance, talented cast and plenty of energy, at the end of the day, it is a millennium age bubble-gum musical. (Pictured: Kat Nejat, Nicole Chambers, Patti Murin, LaQuet Sharnell, Katie Boren. Photo by Joan Marcus) Elizabeth Ahlfors Cabaret Scenes December 16, 2011 www.cabaretscenes.org

Lysistrata Jones

Water Kerr TheatreNew York, NY

Water Kerr Theatre
New York, NY