Friday, December 23, 2011

Theater Review: Lysistrata Jones

The cast of Lysistrata Jones. Photo by Joan Marcus.
Modern Take on a Classic, but View of Women as Sex Objects (and Dumb) Hasn't Changed Much Apparently
By Lauren Yarger
The basketball team at Athens University hasn't won in 33 years, but if they don't start learning how to spell V-I-C-T-O-R-Y, the guys might soon be unable to score in a way that is more important to them.

This is Lysistrata Jones, Douglas Carter Beane's modern Broadway version of Aristophanes' comedic play, Lysistrata, about women in ancient Greece withholding sexual favors until their men until they agree to end the Peloponnesian War.

Here, transfer student Lysisrata Jones (an engaging and vivacious Patti Murin), inspired by goddess Hetaira (vocal power house Liz Mikel) organizes a cheerleader squad to motivate the boys, led in their non-winning efforts by her love interest and team captain, Mick (Josh Segarra). The team and the squad are made up of a bunch of stereotypical characters -- the Latino couple, a Jewish guy who tries to be "gansta," the Asian girl with an attitude, a secret homosexual couple, and a smart girl who you of course think must be a lesbian. (Alexander Aguilar, Ato Blacken-Wood, Katie Boren, Lindsay Nicole Chambers, Kat Kejat, Jason Tam, Teddy Toye and Alex Wyse comprise the ensemble.)

The jocks are only interested in the after-game benefits that being on the team brings, like sex and partying, so Lystistrata decides that if the boys give up trying to win, the girls just won't give it up. This starts a competition of the wills with the boys deciding to go get what they want from whores at the Eros Motor Lodge where Hetaira plays the madame. To counter this, the girls visit the Motor Lodge to get some tips from the expert on how to torture their men sexually. Madame Hetaira advises the girls to "be teases" -- to wear skimpy clothes and touch the boys "accidentally" to arouse them, then refuse to have sex. The girls also sext photos of themselves to the boys and flash them in the locker room.

Will the strategy work? Yes and no, sort of like whether this musical does.

What works:
Dan Knechtges' direction and choreography is superb. Expect award nominations at the end of the season for the man who also helmed Xanadu and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. He teams cheerleading and basketball moves in some really clever dance numbers to Lewis Flinn's pleasant, if not memorable music, featuring a beat-driven and hip hop sound. Flinn also writes the more-syllables-than-beats-of-music lyrics.

David C. Woolard and Thomas Charles LaGalley team for some fun costumes and an orange-blue-and-white trimmed basketball court set that brings back memories of the show's Off-Broadway incarnation last season at the Judson Memorial gym.

Beane incorporates a lot of humor (and of course an obligatory foul shot at a Republican political candidate, though it's kind of boring that most playwrights today seem to feel they all have to do this -- note: not everyone in the audience is a fellow liberal). Standing out are Chambers as slam-poetry intellectual Robin and Tam as Xander, the liberal blogger who becomes the Spartans' mascot. Also fun is the use of stadium air horns to warn people to return to their seats at intermission.

What doesn't work:
Beane's use of a bunch of unpleasant stereotypes, whether it be the guys as dumb, sex-driven jocks or the girls as dumb bimbos who don't read (Lysistrata only agrees to take at the classic play bearing her name if it is in Spark Notes form), have sex casually and manipulatively and who are OK with prostitutes. 

Capitalizing on people's sexist thoughts about women is not something to cheer about. Modern women who have some self worth won't find this a story in which to invest their entertainment dollars, I'm afraid (and probably evidenced by very poor sales reported -- just an average of $25.14 ticket price according to grosses through last week). It's like Spring Awakening and Hair -- great scores and quality productions, but the stories just aren't anything we are able to embrace from a Christian point of view.
Lysistrata takes the court at the Walter Kerr Theatre, 219 West 48th St., NYC. Tickets are available by clicking here.

Christians might also like to know:
-- Show posts a Mature Advisory
--Language
--God's name taken in vain
--Lyric says that God invented porn
--Prostitution
--Sexually suggestive moves
--Sexting
--Sexually graphic images and costumes
--Guys in their underwear
--Homosexuality
--Same sex activity
--Bachanal
--Sexual dialogue
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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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