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Don’t Quit Your Night Job
Broadway’s New After Hours Revue
At
Ha! Comedy Club
(Ha! Comedy Club Website)
163 West 46th Street at 7th Avenue
NY, NY
With a Rotating Cast of 28 Broadway Performers
Producer: Jed Bernstein
Created and Devised by Steve Rosen, Sarah Saltzberg,
David Rossmer, and Dan Lipton
Media: O + M Co.
212.695.7400
Dr. Roberta E. Zlokower
May 13, 2007
Comedy improvisation is a tricky business, requiring fast thinking and shifting of accent, venue, time, and often sex. Actors from shows like I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, Grey Gardens, 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Drowsy Chaperone, and Legally Blonde are getting together on Sunday nights and weeknights, beyond Broadway show times, to sharpen their wits and hone their skills in a relaxed and supportive milieu, much as Broadway dancers would stop at The Copa, after hours, to unwind. Tonight’s cast included Steve Rosen (Spamalot), Sarah Saltzberg (Spelling Bee), David Rossmer (Nerds), Dan Lipton (The Coast of Utopia, leading fast-changing music and sound effects), Sandy Rustin (I Love You…), Lisa Jolley (Hairspray), Clarke Thorell (Hairspray), and more. Two members of the audience also appeared briefly in a game show format.
The show opened with The Irish-Jewish Repertory merger, as actors in brogue lit candles, sliced challah, and said prayers in Hebrew. Music figured prominently, and there were songs on-demand, with somewhat rehearsed lyrics that could be adapted to audience demand. There were “Unicorns Gone Wild” (with stomping and silliness), a celebrity press conference (with actors not knowing whom they are impersonating), Liza Minnelli and Dudley Moore skits, Bernadette Peters and Kristin Chenoweth skits (a hilarious take by guest star, Marc Kudisch), and much use of the hats, scarves, stuffed animals, and other props on a downtown-type set, thrown together for gag routines. Audience participation is as tricky as improvisation, in that one loud member of the audience can quickly monopolize the themes of the skits. It might be better for the cast to call on random people, rather than having the same people call out. Or, have the audience submit ideas in writing, before the show, and draw the cards from a hat? Also, the onstage game skit with two members of the audience could be re-worked, as one participant, tonight, was clearly over her head.
Don’t Quit Your Night Job changes nightly, with new celebrity guests appearing by surprise, to join the show’s creators, Rosen, Rossmer, Saltzberg, and Lipton. Contact Ha! Comedy Club at 212.977.3884 to make a reservation.
Before or after the show, stop at Jack’s at 147 West 40th Street, and ask for Larry. Tell him you saw them on RobertaOnTheArts.com.
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