October 30-November 5, 2003

theater

Sounding Off

We honestly love him: Hugh Jackman plays singer/ songwriter Peter Allen in The Boy From Oz.

Musicals in New York range from the huggable to the shruggable.

by David Anthony Fox

Now Open:

Avenue Q. Likely to be the most delightful, original show of the season, this is Sesame Street with a difference: The residents are young adults with young-adult issues, including dating, unemployment, racism, closeted homosexuality and schadenfreude. The last is treated to a superb parody "word-of-the-day" song, one of many numbers that employ crudely hilarious imagery ("Grab your dick and double-click") that is simultaneously childlike and ballsy. Leading man John Tartaglia (an authentic Sesame Street alumnus!) is cute as a button, and the others equally huggable. Be aware that because the show is so referential, its appeal may depend on demographics. The ideal audience member is a 20-something gay Ivy League graduate and theater fan. Luckily, I attended with one such, and he was in seventh heaven. Open run, John Golden Theatre, 252 W. 45th St., 212-239-6200.

Wilder. In this 80-minute, five-performer chamber piece by playwright Erin Cressida Wilson and musicians Jack Herrick (of The Red Clay Ramblers) and Mike Craver, an old man looks back at his Depression-era youth, spent in a Colorado whorehouse. It was a time of dire poverty and loneliness, yet also of unfettered imagination, and Wilder attempts to create theatrically what Walker Evans did in his bleak-yet-noble photographs. It's a good idea, some of the songs are hauntingly lovely and John Cullum as the man gives a consummate, deeply moving performance Ö But despite this, the piece doesn't quite hang together, and is compromised by flights of pretentiousness. Through Nov. 14, Playwrights Horizons, 416 W. 42nd St., 212-279-4200.

Little Shop of Horrors. This first Broadway production of the 20-year-old favorite is energetic and enjoyable -- and the show wears its years lightly -- but ultimately it's a bit of a letdown. The best parts are the leading man and the foliage. Hunter Foster is a dorkily adorable Seymour, and Audrey II has a sensational curtain-call coup de theatre. The rest of the cast is fine but somehow unmemorable, and Jerry Zaks' staging looks snazzy, but unfortunately strips away both the show's charming naiveté and its schlock B-movie roots. Ultimately, this may simply be a case of right show, wrong place: Uptown plushness doesn't suit this edgy downtown icon.

Open run, Virginia Theatre, 245 W. 52nd St., 212-239-6200.

The Boy From Oz. Forget Antonio and Melanie. Broadway's new beautiful couple are Hugh Jackman and Jarrod Emick. The two portray, respectively, '80s Aussie singer/songwriter Peter Allen and his feisty boyfriend, Greg, and they're yummy. Jackman is a veritable charisma machine: Whether dancing or singing (in a confident if not always limpid tenor) or schmoozing, shirtless, with the audience, he dispenses an unending stream of stardust and pheromones. Good thing, too, since the show is a turkey, a kind of A&E Biography-with-music that limns Allen's career and personal conquests (including Liza Minnelli and Judy Garland) in the style of a Disneyland animatronic ride. Allen's often-good music is ill-suited to most of the scenes it supports, and several big numbers -- including one with Judy offering a postmortem concert -- are of such surpassing awfulness they'd be at home at the Oscars. Open run, Imperial Theatre, 249 W. 45th St., 212-239-6200.

In Previews/Coming Soon:

Wicked. Advance buzz is high on this Oz-adapted musical about the unlikely relationship between the Wicked Witch of the West and her Northern counterpart, Glinda. Excitement surrounds the lavish scenic effects, the quirky pairing of Rent's smoldering Idina Menzel and Charlie Brown darling Kristin Chenoweth, the Broadway return of Joel Grey (the Wizard) and a new score by Stephen Schwartz (Godspell). Even previews are selling out! Gershwin Theatre, 222 W. 51st St., 800-755-4000.

Taboo. This story of Boy George and the anarchic, clubbing London of the 1980s has as much star power behind the scenes (Rosie O'Donnell is producing, drag diva Charles Busch wrote the book) as in front (Boy George actually performs, though not playing himself: This time around, he's cast as performance artist Leigh Bowery). Taboo, a London import that has been massively retooled, is sure to be the biggest curiosity, at least, of the year. Plymouth Theatre, 236 W. 45th St., 212-239-6200.

Wonderful Town. Three years ago, Donna Murphy gave an already-legendary performance when she starred in the Encores! concert version of Leonard Bernstein's enchanting 1953 paean to Greenwich Village. Now she's taking the show to Broadway; going along are several other members of the Encores! team, including director Kathleen Marshall. If track records mean anything, this will be a box-office winner: The company's previous Broadway transfer is the mega-hit Chicago. Al Hirschfeld Theatre, 302 W. 45th St., 800-545-2559.

Caroline, or Change. Playwright Tony Kushner and director George C. Wolfe, whose previous collaborations include the rhapsodically acclaimed Angels in America, now add another artist to the team -- composer Jeanine Tesori -- for this tale of an African-American woman working as the maid for a Jewish family in 1960s Louisiana. Sure to be unconventional and thought-provoking. Public Theater, 425 Lafayette St., 212-239-6200. (d_fox@citypaper.net)