A Broadway "First Date"

The cast of "First Date," which opened at the Longacre on August 8, in a photo by Chris Owyoung.

There is no doubt a need for "a guide to what not to do, when you meet someone new." No, those lyrics are not in Broadway's "First Date," currently at the Longacre Theatre in an open run. They are mine, inspired as it were by Alan Zachary and Michael Weiner, music and lyrics, and Austin Winsberg, book, as it were.

The composers and lyricists have done a nice if generic job tweaking genres with a little bit of pop, a touch of rock, a pinch of rap, and, since this is a romance, a ballad or two.

Krysta Rodriguez as Casey and Zachary Levi as Aaron. Photo by Joan Marcus.

In "First Date," by which the auteurs really mean "blind date," Casey (Krysta Rodriguez) offers Aaron (Zachary Levi) some useful pointers on what not to do in this situation. Aaron and Casey are meant to be the opposites that attract, and we're rooting for them.

Casey relives her "Bad Boy" past: Kristoffer Cusick, Krysta Rodriguez, and Bryce Ryness in "First Date."
Photo by Joan Marcus 

But, "First Date" is more of sketch than a full-blown musical. Even as a skit, it quickly goes from a cute parody of a blind date, to one that has overstayed its welcome.

Like the preparation involved in looking just right for a "First Date," there was a lot of work and talent lavished on this minimalist production. Just as not every "First Date," blossoms into a long-term love connection, so it is with this one. What begins as an amusing riff on the horrors of the blind date, turns into a tedious "First Date."

In fact, "First Date" seems to miss by thirds-- it's a third too long to be witty, and the third iteration of the "Bailout Song' is just one too many to be funny.

Wanting to learn more about "First Date," visit  www.firstdatethemusical.com.

A Mother's Joys, A Mother's Suffering, Parenthood 101

The concept behind "Motherhood Out Loud" is to have a tag team of writers, some playwrigts, some novelists, weave tales of the joy and pain of motherhood.

Created in the spirit of "Love, Loss and What I Wore" or "The Vagina Monologues" but using fourteen authors to voice the show and a permanent cast of four to give embody it, "Motherhood Out Loud"
, in a Primary Stage production at 59E59 Theaters through October 29th, is the brain child of producers Susan Rose and Joan Stein.

The episodes, divided into five "Chapters" each with four scenes, cover the ground from giving birth to finding an empty nest, or as Cheryl L. West puts it in her segment, "Squeeze, Hold, Release."

(L to R) Mary Bacon, Randy Graff, and Saidah Arrika Ekulona. Photo credit: James Leynse. 

Michele Lowe, the most prolific of the contributors in "Motherhood Out Loud" frames the intros of each selection of scenes with things she calls "Fugues" as in "Fast Births Fugue" or "Graduation Day Fugue." Ms. Lowe also wrote a couple of skits ("Bridal Shop" and "Queen Esther") for the show.

.(L to R) Saidah Arrika Ekulona, Mary Bacon and Randy Graff Photo credit: James Leynse. 

The stories like the ones from Marco Pennett ("If We're Using a Surrogate, How Come I'm the One with Morning Sickness"), David Cale ("Elizabeth"), Leslie Ayzavian ("Threesome")or Claire LaZebnik ("Michael's Date") feel very personal.

Other monologues -- for instance by Beth Henley ("Report On Motherhood")
or Jessica Goldberg ("Stars and Stripes") feel more imagined.

Some of the material just seems a bit generic, like Brooke Berman's "Next to the Crib," for example.

James Lecesne Photo credit: James Leynse. 

Mary Bacon (Actor A), Saidah Arrika Ekulona (Actor B), Randy Graff (Actor C), and James Lecesne (Actor D) willingly work back and forth through the copious bits and pieces that include adoption, senility, in-laws, and parents, sometimes hitting the mark, sometimes misfiring.

Parts of "Motherhood Out Loud" are funny, or moving, or surprising, but it remains a pastiche, and somehow the parts just don't add up to a whole play.