Monday, October 1, 2007

Bernice Bobs Her Mullet, a mini-review

Almost every NYMF show I've been to has had walk-outs at intermission. It's never indicative of the quality of the show, at least not in my mind - even my favorites have seen a significantly smaller second act crowd. So it looks like the NYMF audiences are looking for shows more like
Bernice Bobs Her Mullet: a tight, enjoyable 90 minutes of simple plot and catchy songs.

Loosely based on the F Scott Fitzgerald story "Bernice Bobs Her Hair," the musical changes the social status of the titular character from the wealthy girl of the 1920s to trailer trash (complete with mullet) in a more modern decade. It immediately sets her up as an outcast - I'm not ashamed to admit that I had to keep my gag reflex in check during that first hour - and presents numerous opportunities for the show to be a raucous comedy, at which it mostly succeeds.

I'm keeping this short since, well, I'm tired, Bernice has been covered before, and it sadly closed already. Many of the songs were stand-outs, but besides Bernice's two cracking solo numbers near the end I also loved "Hate Yourself" and "What an Awkward Moment." The cast is almost uniformly great, but I can only describe Hollie Howard's Marjorie as the worst G(a)linda I've ever seen - take that as you will.

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