BWW Reviews: Day 3 – WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN

Greetings Dear Readers from New York.  It's Day 3 here and I'm having a wonderful time.  Now I know what you're thinking.  "Day 3?!  Whatever happened to Day 2?"  No you haven't missed an installment.  Day 2 is going to have to be delayed until next week but I assure you it will come.  The show I saw on Day 2 has not officially opened yet and out of respect, we cannot publish reviews of shows still in previews.  The play is "After the Revolution" and it opens next week.  I apologize for the confusion on that one.  But on to Day 3.

I spent the majority of the day in Bryant Park Christmas shopping.  Each year during the holiday season in New York, many areas are converted to outdoor markets where wonderful artisans and vendors sell their wares.  I'd been a few times to the one in Union Square but this year I was too early to hit that one.  But, a new one has popped up in Bryant Park and I was just in time for Opening Day of that.  I would go into more detail about what I bought there but some of my readers' Christmas presents were obtained there and I'd hate to spoil the surprise. 

I also got the also got the amazing opportunity to attend a session at The Actor's Studio (Thanks David for setting that up) which was moderated by the incomparable Ellen Burstyn.  And while I cannot comment on the scenes I saw there, let me just say it was one of the high points of my trip watching some consumate professionals honing their craft.  Just a joy!  OK, let's just move on to the one and only show of the day.

WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN

Based on the Pedro Almodovar film of the same name, the story follows a group of people in Madrid in 1987 who all just want to find love (in their own special way).  Pepa (Sherie Rene Scott) has just been dumped by her boyfriend, Ivan (Brian Stokes Mitchell).  Determined to find out why, she follows a bunch of clues and ends up on the doorstep of Lucia (Patti LuPone), Ivan's estranged wife who lives with her and Ivan's son, Carlos (Justin Guarini) who is engaged to Marisa (Nikki Graff Lanzarone) who desperately wants to get Carlos out of his Mother's house and into a life of their own.  Oh and did I mention Lucia just spent the last 19 years getting a "rest" in a sanitarium for the breakdown she had after Ivan left her?  So she doesn't take bad news well.  Are you following so far?  Add into this mix of insanity Candela (Laura Benanti), a model who has once again fallen in love but this time with a terrorist the police are looking for.  So Candela is looking to Pepa for help, Pepa is looking for Ivan to get him back, Lucia is looking for Ivan to sue him for divorce and take all his money with the help of her lawyer Paulina (De'Adre Aziza), and Carlos and Marisa are looking for a way to tell Lucia that he is moving out.  And all of this is done with the assistance of an ever present Taxi Driver (Danny Burstein).  Got it?

Yes, it's a beautifully formed, character driven farce with tons of twists and turns and sex and, especially with this cast, should be perfect as a Broadway smash.  So what happened?

I have to say that Almodovar is one of my favorite directors and I love this film.  So when I heard they were making a musical of it, I was very excited.  The problem is that they just seemed to have a lot of misses with the show and never could get back on track.  The book by Jeffrey Lane is passable as he takes most of the dialogue and bits right from the movie (although, the movie is so much more than a series of bits and Lane didn't quite get that).  But the music and lyrics from David Yazbek was by far the first big miss.  I like Yakbek's work when it works but this all sounded like a rehash of his former stuff with a Spanish flair thrown in.  Several times I swear I heard refrains from "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" and "The Full Monty".  And none of the songs really helped to move the story along which it seems to me is Musical Theater 101.  Plus for a story set in Madrid and filled with sex and intrigue, there was a surprising lack of sexy Spanish heat from the music.  Adding a Spanish guitar does not make music Spanish.

And this utter lack of "Wow!" led to the cast having very little to work with.  These are some of my favorites on that stage and there was nothing there.  Scott is fine as the driving force of the story although her accent kept drifting in and out.  LuPone is hilariously bold and brash as usual but her one solo number really left me wanting.  Mitchell's voice is as velvety smooth and gorgeous as ever but his character was just so two dimensional that I didn't care.  And former American Idol Guarini was utterly forgettable in a part that could steal the show (brilliantly played by a very young Antonio Banderas in the film).  Really only Benanti rose to the challenge of the show and committed her all to it turning in a riotous performance.  Every time she came on stage with her shuffley model walk, the energy in the theater exploded and her big number "Model Behavior" in Act One was the one big crowd pleaser of the night.

Over produced with an array of often unnecessary projections, under directed for the heat of it by Bartlett Sher and underwritten by Yazbek, the show is sure to be the first big flop of the season.  They even managed to kill the ending which just kind of petered out with a very slow and uninteresting number called "Talk to Her".  And hopefully that number's title will be the only adaptation they attempt on another of Almodovar's brilliant films.

"Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown" is currently playing at the Belasco Theatre at 111 West 44^th Street.

Photo Credits: Paul Kolnik

So now stayed tuned dear readers for tomorrow's installment where I'll have three shows for your pleasure!

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