Saturday, April 16, 2011

Theater Review: The Motherf**ker with the Hat with Chris Rock

It’s Dark, but Bleepin’ Funny
By Lauren Yarger
Comedian Chris Rock makes his Broadway debut in The Motherf**ker with the Hat, Stephen Adly Guirgis dark play that will make you laugh – and want to wash your ears out with soap.

Rock plays Ralph D, an AA sponsor helping Jackie (Bobby Cannavale), a recent parolee, try to stay straight while putting his life with longtime girlfriend Veronica (Elizabeth Rodriguez) back together.

That’s easier said than done. Veronica is, to put it mildly, a hungry manhood-eating Godzilla on wheels who is using drugs herself. She also might be stepping out on Jackie with another guy – the motherf**ker who left his hat behind while making a fast exit from the couple’s rundown apartment (shabbily designed with towering outdoor and building features by Todd Rosenthal).

Ralph encourages Jackie to drop Veronica – and the gun he has acquired to shoot the guy with the hat. He may not have gotten through, however, since the sponsor is distracted by his own problems. His wife, Victoria (Annabella Sciorra), regrets giving up her successful life to marry Ralph and is threatening to leave him and/or have an affair of her own.

Jackie turns for help to his health-food-cooking cousin Julio (Yul Vazquez) who thinks of himself as a Claude Van Dam clone, but years of Jackie’s treating Julio badly might keep him from getting involved. As the lives of the characters get more entangled, questions about which rules matter and who your real friends are and how well any of us really knows anyone else surface.

Cannavale gives a solid performance as the seemingly poor-choice-making guy who just might have the strongest moral character of the bunch. Rodriguez makes a stunning Broadway debut wielding a full arsenal of emotion sharpened by impeccable comedic timing. Director Anna D. Shapiro fails to coax Rock out of a timid mode, however, and we don’t get the full range of that character.

Guirgis creates interesting characters who are oddly likable, and peppers the script with some really funny dialogue throughout. The overuse of ear-blistering language, however, detracts from the play. While these folks, in their particular lifestyles, might realistically use such language, they probably would not suddenly wax poetic, sound extremely articulate and exude gems of wisdom, which they often do so that Guirgis can make a point. You can’t have it both ways, and toning the language certainly would have enhanced the message, not to mention given this play a title which its stars might actually been able to say when marketing it on television or the radio without getting bleeped. Less is more.

The show runs at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, 236 West 45th St., NYC through June 26. For tickets, call 212-239-6200 or 800-432-7250.

Christians might also like to know:
• Strong language and sexual dialogue throughout
• Drug usage
• Sexual activity
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Gracewell Prodiuctions

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Our reviews are professional reviews written without a religious bias. At the end of them, you can find a listing of language, content or theological issues that Christians might want to know about when deciding which shows to see.

** Mature indicates that the show has posted an advisory because of content. Usually this means I would recommend no one under the age of 16 attend.

Theater Critic Lauren Yarger

Theater Critic Lauren Yarger

My Bio

Lauren Yarger has written, directed and produced numerous shows and special events for both secular and Christian audiences. She co-wrote a Christian musical version of “A Christmas Carol” which played to sold-out audiences of over 3,000 in Vermont and was awarded the Vermont Bessie (theater and film awards) for “People’s Choice for Theatre.” She also has written two other dinner theaters, sketches for church services and devotions for Christian artists. Her play concept, "From Reel to Real: The Jennifer O'Neill Story" was presented as part of the League of professional Theatre Women's Julia's reading Room Series in New York. Shifting from reviewing to producing, Yarger owns Gracewell Productions, which produced the Table Reading Series at the Palace Theater in Waterbury, CT. She trained for three years in the Broadway League’s Producer Development Program, completed the Commercial Theater Institute's Producing Intensive and other training and produced a one-woman musical about Mary Magdalene that toured nationally and closed with an off-Broadway run. She was a Fellow at the National Critics Institute at the O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, CT. She wrote reviews of Broadway and Off-Broadway theater (the only ones you can find in the US with an added Christian perspective) at http://reflectionsinthelight.blogspot.com/.

She is editor of The Connecticut Arts Connection (http://ctarts.blogspot.com), an award-winning website featuring theater and arts news for the state. She was a contributing editor for BroadwayWorld.com. She previously served as theater reviewer for the Manchester Journal-Inquirer, Connecticut theater editor for CurtainUp.com and as Connecticut and New York reviewer for American Theater Web.

She is a Co-Founder of the Connecticut Chapter of the League of Professional Theatre Women. She is a former vice president and voting member of The Drama Desk.

She is a freelance writer and playwright (member Dramatists Guild of America). She is a member if the The Outer Critics Circle (producer of the annual awards ceremony) and a member of The League of Professional Theatre Women, serving as Co-Founder of the Connecticut Chapter. Yarger was a book reviewer for Publishers Weekly A former newspaper editor and graduate of the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism, Yarger also worked in arts management for the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts, the Hartford Symphony Orchestra and served for nine years as the Executive Director of Masterwork Productions, Inc. She lives with her husband in West Granby, CT. They have two adult children.

Copyright

All material is copyright 2008- 2024 by Lauren Yarger. Reviews and articles may not be reprinted without permission. Contact reflectionsinthelight@gmail.com

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Key to Content Notes:

God's name taken in vain -- means God or Jesus is used in dialogue without speaking directly to or about them.

Language -- means some curse words are used. "Minor" usually means the words are not too strong or that it only occurs once or twice throughout the show.

Strong Language -- means some of the more heavy duty curse words are used.

Nudity -- means a man or woman's backside, a man's lower front or a woman's front are revealed.

Scantily clad -- means actors' private areas are technically covered, but I can see a lot of them.

Sexual Language -- means the dialogue contains sexually explicit language but there's no action.

Sexual Activity -- means a man and woman are performing sexual acts.

Adultery -- Means a married man or woman is involved sexually with someone besides their spouse. If this is depicted with sexual acts on stage, the list would include "sexual activity" as well.

Sex Outside of Marriage -- means a man and woman are involved sexually without being married. If this is depicted sexually on stage, the list would include "sexual activity" as well.

Homosexuality -- means this is in the show, but not physically depicted.

Homosexual activity -- means two persons of the same sex are embracing/kissing. If they do more than that, the list would include "sexual activity" as well.

Cross Dresser -- Means someone is dressing as the opposite sex. If they do more than that on stage the listing would include the corresponding "sexual activity" and/or "homosexual activity" as well.

Cross Gender -- A man is playing a female part or a woman is playing a man's part.

Suggestive Dancing -- means dancing contains sexually suggestive moves.

Derogatory (category added Fall 2012) Language or circumstances where women or people of a certain race are referred to or treated in a negative and demeaning manner.

Other content matters such as torture, suicide, or rape will be noted, with details revealed only as necessary in the review itself.

The term "throughout" added to any of the above means it happens many times throughout the show.

Reviewing Policy

I receive free seats to Broadway and Off-Broadway shows made available to all voting members of the Outer Critics Circle. Journalistically, I provide an unbiased review and am under no obligation to make positive statements. Sometimes shows do not make tickets available to reviewers. If these are shows my readers want to know about I will purchase a ticket. If a personal friend is involved in a production, I'll let you know, but it won't influence a review. If I feel there is a conflict, I won't review their portion of the production.

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