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