By Ron Fassler . . .
In March of 2011, The Book of Mormon arrived on Broadway and has been entertaining audiences and taking up real estate on West 49th Street ever since. It made stars out of its two principals, Josh Gad and Andrew Rannells, who exited the show after a year of sending audiences into convulsive laughter as Elder Cunningham and Elder Price, respectively. Over the past eleven years, they’ve worked on projects across a broad spectrum of various mediums, but we haven’t had them back together onstage . . . until now. And what they’ve chosen for their return is a purposely tacky little off-Broadway comedy from sixteen years ago titled Gutenberg! The Musical!, all spiffed up for presentation at the recently remodeled—and beautiful—James Earl Jones Theatre. The jokes are plentiful and the feel-good vibes it puts forth are a soothing tonic to the realities that confront its nightly audiences when stepping back out onto the streets of the city.
Alex Timbers, who won a Tony for his over-the-top direction of another exclamation point of a musical, Moulin Rouge!, has pitched Gutenberg! on Broadway at a similar frequency of frenetic showmanship in spite of a mere cast of two. Having not seen its original 2007 version, performed first at a 100-seat theater and then at an only slightly larger one, it’s hard to say if Christopher Fitzgerald and Jeremy Shamos, two of our best Broadway character actors, interpreted this insane and gutsy material any differently in size for their space. But in Gad and Rannells, two actors of great wit and musical theater bona fides, the 1,100-seat Jones is filled to capacity with their hilarity and charisma.
The book, music and lyrics are by the team of Scott Brown and Anthony King, who contributed the book to the recent musical incarnation of Beetlejuice (also directed by Timbers). They had originally conceived Gutenberg! for themselves out of improvs they developed with Upright Citizens Brigade. It shows, in the sense that the structure of the show really doesn’t have much more going for it beyond the average SNL sketch. In creating a two-act show that runs for two hours with a fifteen-minute intermission, the material does tend to stretch a bit thin. And that Josh Gad, both physically and in his characterization, reminded me so, so much of the late Chris Farley, puts the SNL connection front and center.
If you’re a fan of both Rannells and Gad, you will laugh uproariously as much of the audience did the night I attended. They work beautifully as a team, their affection for one another palpable, and man do they know where the funny is. Many of their idiosyncratic line readings will have you clutching your gut. The loose-limbed Rannells and the rubber-faced Gad really have a Laurel and Hardy aspect to their physical comedy and often it’s the behavior around the lines that draw the biggest laughs. Just watching them is funny.
And what the hell are they doing up on stage all night anyway? Well, what the premise would have us believe is that the goofy Bud Davenport (Gad) has used all the inheritance money from his recently deceased uncle to pay for a one-night-only presentation of a musical he’s written with his best friend and equally clueless writing partner, Doug Simon (Rannells). This is a backer’s audition, and they tell us the audience is loaded with potential producers interested in their show, a musical based on the life of Johann Gutenberg, the inventor of the printing press. Then it’s a free-for-all with Bud and Doug playing all the characters in their show, delineated by means of trucker hats they wear, each emblazoned with character identities like “ANTI-SEMITE,” so we can keep track of the dozens of people that come and go, often with the speed of lightning. And since there aren’t many facts about Gutenberg at their disposal, Doug asks the question, “What is historical fiction?” Bud’s answer? “It’s fiction . . . that’s true.”
So, we’re off and running.
It’s impossible not to feel that it’s all a bit overblown on Broadway. Even though it’s prop-happy, it’s essentially performed on a bare stage with no scenery, leaving just enough room for a trio of musicians upstage right. Scott Pask, no slouch as a scenic designer, does a nice job conveying a sort of boring space for the guys to perform their show, holding off on a nice surprise just before the finish. The lighting by Jeff Croiter is very effective for the ins and outs required by the crazy musical numbers performed, and even though there are barely any costume changes, Emily Rebholz is right on the money with what she’s got Gad and Rannels dressed in. Sound design by M.L.Dogg and Cody Spencer is inobtrusive, as it should be, and the band, led by conductor Marco Paguia (who doubles as an announcer twice in the evening), can’t be improved upon.
It would be wonderful to report that the songs all had the heft and sophistication displayed in other silly musicals like Avenue Q and Book of Mormon. Those songs, slightly akilter and satiric, hit their targets in bullseye fashion practically 100% of the time. That’s not nearly the case with what Brown and King have composed for Gutenberg! Some aren’t songs, but snippets, and because what they’re spoofing is so stupid, well . . . as Mrs. Gump liked to say, “Stupid is as stupid does.” If you go with all that, you’ll be fine. If you’re looking for a different level of sophistication, it’s not to be found with this score. Let’s just say that if an original cast album is produced, I’m not sure it would grab people’s attention even if they saw and loved the show. The funny is around the songs, not necessarily in them, if that makes sense.
But sweetness abounds. The show has nearly no snark and the innocence of Bud and Doug goes a long way toward smoothing out any of Gutenberg! The Musical!’s rough edges. I laughed a lot, no small thing these days when sometimes laughter is all we’ve got before the parade passes by (to quote another musical title that ends with an exclamation point).
Gutenberg! The Musical! Through January 28, 2024, at the James Earl Jones Theatre (138 West 48th Street, between Sixth and Seventh Avenues). www.gutenbergbway.com
Photos: Matt Murphy
