NYMF: Fancy Boys Follies: Losing My Grind

It's a sad fact of Gay life that, when it comes to entertainment, the material doesn't need to be good to sell - a Gay celebrity in the cast or the hint that there will be live male genitalia onstage is enough to get the box office hopping. Fancy Boys Follies, the new musical revue by David Pevsner (which features both Jim J. Bullock and a penis) has been so popular that they had to add 3 extra shows to the original lineup.

Pevsner's show (He wrote the book, lyrics, and most of the music) aspires to Vaudeville and Burlesque (coining the word "Vaudelesque" in the press materials), but doesn't rise much higher than Sitcom and Stripping ("Stripcom"?). The other music is by Stephen Bates, Jamie Forsyth, Mark Hummel, Chris Lavely, Michael Orland, Jeff Rizzo, and Michael Skloff, most of whom contribute a song or two. There is additional material by Bruce Vilanch, though just what that material is isn't specified.

The show is arranged like a low-rent Ziegfeld Follies, with the main cast (The aforementioned Mr. Bullock, accompanied by Howard Kaye, Jon Powell, and Tom Stuart) performing vaguely related skits and songs, while The Follies Man (Dave August) comes out between to bring on title cards and remove progressively more clothing while singing a recurring number called "Conservative Clothes". All except August and Stuart are in their 40s-50s, which, though they're certainly handsome, makes them hardly (as they themselves point out in the titular opening number) boys.

There is a recurring gag of August attempting to take his clothes off, and being told that the producers have decided not to let him do that...  Though of course since there's a warning of nudity in the programs and posters, no one's really surprised when eventually they lose the battle.

First up after the opening numbers is "Steppin' at the Daddyboy", a selection set in a country-and-western Gay bar, which included a song "Straight Guy (until I get drunk)", and Mr. Bullock in drag singing a hoedown about anal warts called "Pain the Butt", bookended by a tedious song called "Lovin' It", in which Powell claims to play a man like a guitar.
Next up was "Meet Cute: A Mini Musical", about two lonely guys (Kaye and Powell) who pine for each other at a coffee shop but don't do anything till a couple of gay Angels (Bullock and Stuart) give them pep-talks. Which is a sweet idea, and has a nice moral about "you won't win if you don't even try" but that's not what "meet cute" means.

"The Book of Lust" is an extended piece that recurs through the evening, with Powell reading his big Little Black Book and reminiscing about all the sexual encounters therein (and then adding a mawkish tag about how when he finds Mr. Right, he'll be the last name in the book).
"Merry Ex-mas" is an odd little number about what to say to your ex on Christmas and other occasions, which delights in adding profanity into holiday greetings.

The "Gay TV" section included "Homo Depot", an amusing song about a Gay-oriented hardware store, "The Saga of Roark and Lance", an extended bedtime story in verse about two soap opera stars who fall for each other (which is one of the funnier pieces, read by Kaye, with Powell and Stuart as Roark and Lance, and Bullock playing everyone else in the story). "William" included "The Best Part" (a not-quite funny parody of the "You've Gotta Get a Gimmick" number from Gypsy, with Kaye, Powell and Bullock as male strippers) "For the Sake of My Art" about an actor (Stuart) auditioning for Shortbus who wants to sing instead of get naked , and "Accoutrements" an extended pattersong about leather gear and S&M, which includes Bullock as a slave with Jerry Lewis false teeth.

Finally "The Gay Old Times", a barbershop number whose harmonies got a little hairy the night I attended, and "I Gotta Give it Up to Love", a rousing disco anthem which is one of the catchier numbers in the show (and during which August comes out to dance with the rest of the gang).
(A recurring number "Big Daddy Rick and his Amazing Baby Dick" was listed in the program, but didn't appear in the show the night I saw it)

Most of the material feels dated, especially when it tries to be shockingly vulgar. It feels schizophrenic: it's strangely romantic for a show that claims to want to titillate but then it's strangely smutty for a show that's essentially an innocuous variety show. Most of the jokes go on for far too long, even when they're funny. There are occasional flashes of wit, but most of the comedy comes from the actors, who are all great, and do their best with what they're given.

Direction by Randy Brenner is scattershot at best, Michael Lee Scott's choreography (mainly for August's strip numbers) is fine.

In Pevsner's bio in the program for Fancy Boys Follies, he mentions that the show began as a fictional revue in his not-yet-produced feature film Musical Comedy Whore. It might have been better off remaining fictional.

Fancy Boys Follies
An official selection of the 2008 New York Musical Theatre Festival

45th Street Theatre
354 West 45th Street between 8th and 9th Avenue

Remaining festival shows:
Saturday, October 4th at 4:30pm
Saturday, October 4th at 11:00pm
Sunday, October 5th at 1:00pm

Tickets can be purchased for $20 at: 212-352-3101, 866-811-4111(toll free), or online at: nymf.org

Photo Credit: Hans Fahrmeyer.
Dave August stars in The Fancy Boys Follies.