Last month I had the opportunity to see Lysistrata Jones, produced by the Transport Group off-Broadway at the Judson Memorial Church. I'm glad they were given an extension so that I was able to see it. I meant to post this review before, but given the newly announced Broadway transfer to the Walter Kerr Theatre, I find that it is still very pertinent now.
Lysistrata Jones is a new musical based on Aristophanes' Lysistrata, but made for the "High School Musical" generation, as the show's score has a catchy pop sound and the plot revolves around a basketball team and their cheerleader girlfriends. The music and lyrics are by Lewis Flinn, and the pop culture-filled libretto is by Douglas Carter Beane, who also contributed to the librettos of Sister Act and Xanadu, which was also choreographed by Dan Knechtges.
Patti Murin has the title role, as a new transfer student to Athens University who organizes her friends into a makeshift cheer-leading squad for the lackluster men's basketball team who hasn't won a game in recent memory, and doesn't really care about their constant defeats. Because it's a small cast, all of the cheerleaders are currently dating one of the basketball players, and Lysistrata gets the idea from one of the student librarians to use the same tactics as her namesake, and encourage the cheerleaders to take part in a sex strike until the basketball team wins a game. Her scheme initially backfires when the boys decide they would rather keep losing and find new girlfriends than give in and actually put effort into playing basketball. The girls also consult a prostitute played by Liz Mikel who serves as the narrator of the piece, playing a Greek goddess in disguise. She counsels both the boys and the girls in their battle of the sexes.
The supporting cast all are great to watch: Josh Segarra as Lizzie's boyfriend Mick, who is also the captain of the basketball team, Alex Wyse as Cinesius, a lilly-white player who thinks he is black, Alex Aguilar as a Hispanic player, Uardo, with raging hormones, and Ato-Blankson Wood and Teddy Toye as the remaining players, who find true love in each other's arms. Especially wonderful is Jason Tam as Xavier, the social outcast who gets drafted into Lizzie's plans and eventually falls under her spell. His song is one of the highlights of the show. On the female side, Kat Nejat and Lindsay Nicole Chambers stand out as Lizzie's friends, a fellow cheerleader and a politically-active librarian respectively. Ms. Chambers' Robin also pursues Mick, with hilarious results. Katie Boren and LaQuett Sharnell appear as Asian and African-American cheerleaders, but they aren't given as much time in the spotlight.
The show was performed on an actual basketball court in the Judson Memorial Church, which was a great environment for the show, since the audience was very close to the action, creating a feeling of being a bystander in the world of Athens University. The set, and general aesthetic (costumes, staging and choreography), reminded me a lot of High School Musical, both the stage and screen incarnations, as that show also dealt with the romantic entanglements of basketball players. (Also, Patti Murin originated the role of Sharpay in the Atlanta TOTS world premiere). Douglas Carter Beane's book is filled with pop-culture jokes and a biting humor that also calls to mind Glee in this setting. If you love musical young people, then you will really love this show. If you not get a chance to see the Transport Group run, then I urge you to support the show on Broadway, as it is an original musical with some catchy songs and great moments, and new musicals worth seeing can sometimes be difficult to come by. However, I fear that some of the intimacy will be lost on a Broadway stage, although I do look forward to seeing it, and I wish the production well.
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