[ad_1]
Eight years is pretty close to an eternity in terms of sales dates for topical humor, which may be one reason for the joke in Larissa FastHorse’s Broadway comedy thanksgiving drama As bland as an unbaked pie. We can only speculate that words like “decoupling” and “soymilk” seemed like great punchlines when she first started writing this satire of liberal guilt, arousal sensibility, and Goopy indulgence in 2015.
opens tonight at the Hayes Theater, thanksgiving dramaDirector Rachel Chavkin (Hadestown, Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812) and starring Darcy Carden, Katie Finneran, Scott Foley, and Chris Sullivan — all directors and actors who have done better in other arenas — is the kind of easy-to-target A satire that rightfully should have a sophisticated New York audience who sees its own weaknesses and smiles at its own political weaknesses.
More from Deadline
So what went wrong this Thanksgiving? Start with soup and end with nuts.
Set in an elementary school classroom, the show follows four white adults — a drama teacher, her “yoga playboy” ex-actor boyfriend, a high school history teacher and an L.A. Mistaken for being of Native American descent — taking on the task of putting on this year’s Thanksgiving show. Determined to create a politically correct account of the story of the Pilgrim-Native American feast, the enlightened teacher and her equally ardent boyfriend enlisted the history-slash playwright’s would-be teacher and what they thought would provide a non- actress white perspective.
From the very beginning, the premise asked a lot of viewers. Are we doomed to believe that a grade-school production is starring a professional L.A. actress? Even in the post-George Floyd era (indeed, his name has been checked), does this production have real government “diversification” funding? Even the most ignorant “woke” do-gooders can communicate, as they ask the not-so-Native American actress about her family’s holiday traditions.
“We just ate and watched the game,” she said.
“What kind of game?” they asked.
“Just the ones that everyone’s watching,” she replied, a response the audience understood even if the boobs on stage didn’t.
Asked how they could learn more about the games, the actress said, “I think the Chiefs play on Monday, right?”
The response was, “Have a whole game just for the Chiefs? Great!”
Far-fetched lines pile up like Thanksgiving turkey bones, dialogue is as inexplicable as a bloody human prop head popping up (this is elementary school, remember, even if the screenwriters don’t remember) and out-character moves (yoga dude Somehow got the blue face paint and went all out on Braveheart).
Interspersed throughout the fictional episode are video projections of school children reciting apparently real-life elementary school Thanksgiving songs, shockingly racist and violent. It’s unclear exactly when these grotesque tales were written, but they speak louder than anything else that happened on stage.
title: thanksgiving drama
Place: Hayes Theater on Broadway
director: Rachel Chavkin
playwright: Larissa fast horse
throw: D’Arcy Carden, Katie Finneran, Scott Foley and Chris Sullivan
operation hours: 80 minutes (no intermission)
best deadline
sign up Deadline Newsletter. Follow us for the latest news Facebook, Twitterand instagram.
[ad_2]
Source link