Wizards of OS

Nerds://A Musical Software Satire explores the bloody battle between Gates and Jobs.

by David Anthony Fox

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Published: Feb 13, 2007

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Over the decades, Broadway musicals have seen many skirmishes: farmers vs. cowmen, Jets vs. Sharks, even prima donnas vs. chandeliers. But it took till Nerds for the lyric theater to explore the bloodiest battle of all: Bill Gates vs. Steve Jobs, or the War of the Operating Systems.

Welcome to the West's third gold rush (after mining, and movies, of course), where the new frontiers are hardware and software, and where a small group of nerds — male and female — can conquer the universe. Leading the pack are Jobs (Charlie Pollock) and Gates (Jim Poulos), and they could hardly be more different. The former is an overgrown surfer doofus, who, between bong hits, invents the personal computer. The latter is a slimy little guy who has his eye set on corporate America, and is wooed by the devilish Tom Watson of IBM (a scene-stealing — and sure to be Barrymore-winning — performance by Joseph Dellger). It's a world rife with Faustian bargains, and of course it won't take long for Gates and Jobs to cross light sabers.

Nerds, a hit at the 2005 New York Musical Theatre Festival, is an enormous crowd-pleaser, and the show brims with energy, charm and young talent. Truth be told, the music (by Hal Goldberg) is instantly forgettable, and the lyrics (by Jordan Allen-Dutton and Erik Weiner) aren't much better. And the whole "nerds" idea runs out of steam — it's hard to think of Jobs and Gates as such once they've earned their 10th or 20th billion dollars, though the show serves up some funny visuals involving bad hair, bad glasses, head gear and really bad polyester.

Still, the Gates/Jobs story is a great idea for a musical satire, and there's enough good stuff to keep it going for the full two hours and change. Nerds will be especially amusing to those nostalgic 30-plus-ers, who will enjoy clever references to some of the Ghosts of Computing Past: Oracle, Commodore, NeXT, etc.

Most of all, Nerds is winningly served by director Philip Wm. McKinley, his design team and a terrific cast. Pollock and Poulos lead the way, but everybody is good. (At the performance I saw, understudy Megan Lawrence stepped into the role of Sally. A Tony Award nominee, Lawrence was marvelous, and — ahem — word perfect.)

(d_fox@citypaper.net)

Nerds:// A Musical Software Satire

Through Feb. 25, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Plays & Players Theater, 1714 Delancey St., 215-985-0420, www.phillytheatreco.com

 

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