Modern Family's Jess Tyler Ferguson returns to Broadway in the role of a lifetime!
Starring five-time Emmy Award nominee Jesse Tyler Ferguson and directed by Tony nominee Jason Moore (Pitch Perfect, Avenue Q), FULLY COMMITTED is the "hilarious and touching" (Time Out New York) comedy that takes a sharp skewer to the backside of the restaurant biz.
You think you're having a bad day at work? Meet Sam. He covers the red-hot reservation line at one of New York's most exclusive restaurants, juggling desperate diners, scheming socialites, name-dropping wannabes, celebrity divas, panicked waiters and a fame-hungry chef. And in this side-splitting tour-de-force, Ferguson plays all 40 characters!
The play by Becky Mode...has been updated for a world that's slightly less obsessed with the "it" restaurant of the moment...Mode doesn't chase stinging satire, just laughs -- and snags a few good ones. Director Jason Moore keeps things moving briskly and as dynamically as possible...Ferguson has proven himself a likable clown in Shakespeare plays and musicals like "On the Town" and "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee." But that's not the same as being a chameleon capable of shifting instantaneously from one vivid character to another. Ferguson lisps, growls and crosses his eyes gamely, but people on the other end of the phone line are rarely remarkable. The actor is fully committed, yes, but the production isn't totally satisfying.
Becky Mode's "Fully Committed" is that one-person play for theatergoers who hate one-person plays. Which is most theatergoers...Fans of this restaurant-reservationist comedy will not be disappointed, and fans of "Modern Family" will be delighted to see Jesse Tyler Ferguson live on stage playing not one character but a few dozen. What lifts "Fully Committed" from the doldrums of having to watch one actor on stage playing one character for 90 minutes are all the people who call Sam to make a reservation at an absurdly exclusive restaurant...It's only food, of course. But in the end, it's so much more. It's ego. It's prestige. It's power.