By Carol Davis
SAN DIEGO— Following on the heels of The La Jolla Playhouse unveiling its world premiere docu-musical, Hands on a Hardbody by Doug Wright (book), Amanda Green (lyrics) and Trey Anastasiio (music), The Old Globe has unleashed another world premiere musical, Nobody Loves You by Itamar Moses (Book and Lyrics) and Gaby Alter (Music and Lyrics with orchestrations and vocal arrangements)
Not to make comparisons, but… where “Hardbody” is anchored in the showroom of a Nissan car dealership in Longview, Texas, and has no place else to go, just the opposite can be said of Nobody Loves You”. It’s about a television reality show called, ta- da! Nobody Loves You” and is situated in America, the not-to-distant present.
NLY is a behind the cameras look at the shenanigans that go in to the makings of a reality TV show. It captures the matchmaking deals from hell where the last one standing without a partner gets a little shove on the forehead and a nod that ‘nobody loves you’ and poof, you’re off the show. Contestants are voted in or out by the audience. It’s all about the ratings, my friends and it’s all caught on camera (with a little editing).
Grad student Jeff (Adam Kantor is just as cute and petulant as ever) and his girlfriend Tanya (Nicole Lewis) are on different planets when it comes to managing a relationship. He’s writing his thesis on the gap between perception and reality and she’s obsessed with the reality show Nobody Loves You.
After a tiff and walkout because he doesn’t take the show as seriously as she, she decides to audition to become a contestant on the show and find the “someone who already is the guy I was always trying to get you to be”. But when Jeff follows her and auditions for the show he learns that they didn’t accept her but they want him. (Lewis is attractive and convincing later on as she shows up as the show’s producer Nina.)
Once on the set Jeff meets Jenny (Jenni Barber) the production assistant and well… It’s just a mater of time that their reality is under scrutiny. Both are outsiders wanting more out of life than to be on a reality show. Jeff and Jenny play the cat and mouse game as Jeff records all the comings and goings of how the show works in order to use the information for the bulk of his thesis and to expose it to the world as the fraud he thinks it is.
All the while, others are going through the ‘meet and greet’ part of the show and it is hilarious. Contestants are assigned to different rooms to get acquainted. There is the Jello Room, Mirror Room, Pillow Fight Room and Hot Tub Room. It’s here that contestants Christian (Kelsey Kurtz ‘OMG too funny)) and Megan (Lauren Molina) perform their hot tune duet “Come On In” and it about brings the house down. Kurtz’ Christian is very Christian and works hard at practicing his religion. Megan is a schoolteacher and a lush. The push pull of the couple is the funniest number in a series of fun filled spoofing the entire evening.
Schoolteacher Samantha and flirt Dominic (Kate Morgan Chadwick and Alex Brightman) make up another less interesting pair but Brightman, who plays several of the gay characters including Jeff’s stoner roommate Chazz and Jenny’s tweeting roommate Evan, is a keeper. He has one of the best and funniest character parts in the whole 90+ minute production.
After the couples have been through two weeks of ‘dating’ (they are under strict surveillance round the clock) they come to the ‘Crush or Be Crushed’ part of the show where they write the name of their ‘crush’ on a CD and anoint each other with it.
The NLY show is pure glitz and faux glamour headed by a smile a minute emcee Byron (Heath Calvert is great) whose only thoughts are fed to him through his earpiece. Other than that he’s a tuxedo ready to sing on cue, “Which love is for real?”
With some zippy and snappy music and lyrics driven by a talented and appealing ensemble, this contemporary piece should charm most everyone especially if the sound (Paul Peterson) is brought down by a few decibels and you don’t get stuck sitting in front of a few yahoos who were so damn loud and obnoxious that I wanted to muzzle them. Next time fella’s, put on your theatre manners. ‘Nuff said on that matter.
Despite the fact that you will never see or hear me engaged in a conversation about a reality TV show, (I just don’t watch them) doesn’t negate the fact that I love a good laugh. Go ahead and ‘make my day’. Both Itamar and Alter and friend, the third leg of the dynamic trio, director Michelle Tattenbaum, manage to create some very funny dialogue and hilarious stage pictures. That the outcome is predictable and some of the ‘story’ line seems too cutesy and will most likely go through some tightening up, matters not. Those seeing “Nobody Loves You” won’t care.
See you at the theatre.
Dates: Through June 17th
Organization: Old Globe Theatre
Phone: 619-234-5623
Production Type: Musical Comedy
Where:
Ticket Prices: start at $39.00
Web: theoldglobe.org
Venue: Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre
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Davis is a San Diego-based theatre critic. She may be contacted at carol.davis@sdjewishworld.com