Last week, a Broadway play All in: A comedy about love It became very dramatic in terms of money — its weekly box office, specifically, with revenues topping $1 million, an impressive feat for any play that hasn't been mentioned. Mary. Figure it out All in This isn't a play at all, but a collection of readings by short story writer Simon Rich and I think the box office tally looks more like a Christmas miracle.
Then I actually saw it All inAnd count me among the rich and guided. Directed by the ever-witty Alex Timbers and played by a rotating cast of four actors – I was lucky to get John Mulaney, Fred Armisen, Renée Elise Goldsberry and Richard Kind – it is a 90-minute film. All in It's the perfect holiday snickerdoodle, a delicious snack that's no less fun because of its brevity and lack of fancy production values.
To clear up any confusion about the nature of this rather strange beast – and based on some audience reviews on various websites, there is indeed confusion – All in It is a series of story readings, or rather performed readings, and very well executed is the narration (all the more effective given that the performer is performing seated on stage in comfortable, mid-century modern chairs that look rather comfortable, And he reads from – and do not be so discouraged – manuscripts.
I'm not sure if the material will differ depending on the cast — upcoming performers include Lin-Manuel Miranda, Annalee Ashford, Hank Azaria, Aidy Bryant, David Cross, Jimmy Fallon and more (go here for a more complete synopsis) — but the rich stories were chosen My night including four or five howlers and some amusing snacks (a series of brief “missed connections” written by dogs, as in (paraphrasing) “I met you at the other dog park today, we talked briefly, We would like to get to know you better…”
The reviewed show begins with Mulaney—the equivalent of a lead actor—walking alone into David Korins's hipster lounge (bookshelves, ridiculously elaborate chandeliers, risers on either stage of the brilliant indie folk musical and married duo The Bengsons , here he performs music by Stephen Merritt of The Magnets Fields in what amounts to brief but enjoyable palate cleansers between readings).
It is possible that Mulaney's first composition will take its place in his own performances. He tells – in a funny way – the story of a shaggy dog that begins with a very old joke about a hard-of-hearing leprechaun and an innkeeper with a “twelve-inch piano.” You've probably heard this before, but Rich – a former writer for… Saturday Night Live The son of theater critic-turned-HBO producer Frank Rich and brother of novelist Nathaniel Rich – he uses this joke to expand the story into increasingly absurd and very funny territory, which perfectly suits Mulaney's understated style (Mulaney and Rich met during SNL periods). The tale even becomes a bit sweet, as Rich's stories tend to do.
Other longer stories include: Mulaney and Armisen as grizzled old pirates – lots of “arrrrs” – who love treasure hunting, frogs, the open sea and anachronisms – Armisen's pirate is lactose intolerant, while Mulaney's pirate is one-eyed and has cramped legs . The scoundrel ponders the “subtext” of the pirate's meanderings.
The comic clue in the crow's nest comes in the form of a beautiful little girl (Goldsberry) hidden on board the ship. The first instinct is to throw her to the sharks, but when she learns she can read maps, the illiterate pirate sees an opportunity. Soon, the two old pirates are concerned about the baby's sleep cycles and whether daggers are an appropriate toy, and consider visiting the Bermuda Triangle where they hear the schools are great.
Like many of Rich's stories, The Pirate's Tale, for all its genre-specific details and non-period-specific language, is ultimately about love in unexpected places, specifically the modern millennial kind of newfound domestic love and familial love. Unexpected happiness it can bring.
Another case in point: In his story “The Big Nap,” read primarily by Armisen and Goldsberry, a mysterious young woman new to the scene is set, a Sam Spade type who speaks as if his dialogue was penned by Dashiell Hammett. Evolution: Chew is a two-year-old boy, and the newcomer is his little sister. What Rich cleverly accomplishes here is the expert juxtaposition of children's lives—lost stuffed unicorns, bewildered by the conspiratorial whispers of the adult world—with the tough talk of noir from Bogart to Chinatown. In a perfect Richie touch, the newly acquainted and initially combative siblings decide they kind of like each other, and decide it will be them against the world.
Richard Kind, Renée Elise Goldsberry, John Mulaney, Fred Armisen
Emilio Madrid
Other stories explore similar themes in equally bizarre situations: In 1880s London, the very suave Joseph Merrick, also known as the Elephant Man, shamelessly flirts with his doctor's conceited wife (Goldsberry and Kind, respectively). Another story features Kind as an ailing talent scout in the 1980s who cares for his dying wife (Goldsberry), and has a trick or two up his old sleeve when death comes knocking (Armisen). It seems Death isn't immune to the “I can make you a star” flattery.
The final story of the evening is set in the distant future, when humans have abandoned the dead Earth for a new planet. When a young girl reads her school report on how her great-grandfather met her great-grandmother, the mutual bonding ends Arrested development The key was – it became clear that she was talking about the author Rich (played by Mulaney) and his wife. Absurdity and humor meet domestic bliss once and for all and in the most direct and personal terms in the author's arsenal. This is worth reading.
address: All in: A comedy about love
place: Broadway Hudson Theater
Written by: Simon Rich
Output: Alex Timbers
ejaculate: John Mulaney, Fred Armisen, Richard Kind, Renee Elise Goldsberry
Operating time: 1 hour 30 minutes (no break)
