InunDATEd
New two character musical revue to songs by Christine Lavin on the drawbacks of today's dating scene.
The fourth and last in The York Theatre Company’s New2NY series is a jukebox musical revue to the songs of Christine Lavin. Entitled InunDATEd, the show is a slight review of all the bad dates one woman can have in the form of a cabaret show. With a libretto by Alice Scovell and under the direction of famed impersonator Christine Pedi, InunDATEd alternates between Lucy (played by Kate Rockwell) as a cabaret singer on mike and her dates with a series of men at a café table on the other side of the stage.
The problem with the show is two-fold: first, it doesn’t have anything new to say about dating other than trying to turn it into a cabaret commentary, and visually the show looks the same throughout with the staging having Lucy sit at the same place at the table and the 16 men (all played by versatile the Taylor Crousore) sitting or standing opposite her. None of his men are allowed to be charming or ingratiating, not only showing the negative side of modern dating, but making a great deal of this one-act musical feel too much the same.
The show opens with Lucy, a former lawyer, now a singer-songwriter, performing Lavin’s “Amoeba Hop” (too many of the songs give away their punchlines in their titles). She then tells us that she has agreed to an experiment: “to meet every dating app guy with an ounce of potential.” The show alternates between online dates at the Think and Drink Café and the Monthly Meet Market, a speed dating society. (One takes place in an art gallery.) Among Lucy’s dates are with an optometrist who wants to give her glasses; a lawyer who wants her to sign a pre-nup before they date; Desi, a man seeking his Lucy; a male chauvinist Cowboy; a mime who communicates silently; a daredevil seeking another of the same; a man with ten children seeking a housekeeper; a Know-It–All Jerk; and a British perfectionist for whom no one is good enough. Lucy finally ends up with one of these men but none of them are any prizes. While not that funny, the show suggests the bleak time women have today of finding a mate in the dating pool.
InunDATEd includes nine pleasantly amusing songs from the catalog of Christine Lavin such as “Attainable Love,” “Camping” and “Please Don’t Make Me Too Happy,” all on the theme of relationships. The two wittiest numbers are the patter songs “Good Thing He Can’t Read My Mind” and “I Want to Be Lonely Again,” lyrics in the style of Comden and Green. Rockwell’s voice does justice to them but none of them are particularly showstoppers. The finale is the only duet between Rockwell and Crousore, with new lyrics to “Good Thing He/She Can’t Read My Mind.”
Both Rockwell and Crousore are game performers, she having to meet and greet with 16 men while he has a series of losers and self-involved subjects to play. Some of the tired subjects up for discussion include favorite Jane Austen novels (doesn’t anyone read anything else?) and modern morality which keeps changing. He does have a series of uncredited costumes to help in his transformations. Peter Brucker’s projection design for the Think and Drink Café and the Monthly Meet Market are so similar you may not notice that they change. Hardworking Beth Falcone is at the piano throughout and even joins Rockwell in several of the songs. InunDATEd would work best in a cabaret setting where one has little expectation for scenery, costuming or orchestration.
InunDATEd (October 4 – 13, 2024)
York Theatre Company
NEW2NY: Fall 2024 Season
The Theatre at St. Jean’s, 150 E. 76th Street, in Manhattan
For tickets, call 212-935-5820 or visit http://www.yorktheatre.org
Running time: one hour and 45 minutes without an intermission
Mr. Gluck, You clearly have never dated men in NYC. This was a comedy, but I would say I have dated some form of at least 50% of the men portrayed in InunDATED. The reason the show is funny (which you apparently totally missed) is that it is so close to what women actually have to go through to find a decent guy in NYC. The number of fabulous women in NYC far outweighs the men we are subjected to meet/date. In addition, many of the men in the play are there for speed dating which is an insanely awful way to deal with dating, but so many mother’s think that is the way their daughter will find someone special and they often encourage it. In addition, I guess you totally missed the concept that these were sketch COMEDIES…like SNL. I thought that all the male characters had a different quirkiness that accurately portrays so many men that do these kinds of dating services. Maybe you should go interview some single women in NYC and then you would potentially understand why this production was so well done.