Cry-Baby
This new musical, based on the John Waters movie (1990), is thinner than Waters's moustache. Buffed and Lysol'd, it's Cry-Baby watered-down. Baltimore in 1954 has two social groups: Squares, an entitled upper class, and Drapes, a gang of white kids in black leather. Hip-shaking, bebopping Cry-Baby (so called because he can't) is the "most popular loser in school." He falls for Allison, a Square who's good, "but I don't wanna be." The forces of repression -- including a quartet of Squares (who sing like the Plaids of Forever Plaid and talk like Hitler Youth) -- endeavor to keep Cry-Baby and Allison apart. Most of the musical, the first act in particular, feels generic. The songs, rock and roll at the cusp of puberty (which came about the day Elvis sang "Hound Dog") are lively and familiar ("Do That Again" being a dead steal from Jerry Lee Lewis's "Great Balls of Fire"). The show entertains. Director Mark Brokaw (and Mark O'Donnell and Thomas Meehan's hilarious one-liners and Rob Ashford's excellent choreography see to it) keeps things moving even when the book, which extends many bits too long, doesn't. But since the villains speak their subtexts (as if to say "Hi, I'm a Nazi"), and the heroes are so heroic (James Snyder, an indefatigable young talent, plays Cry-Baby closer to Donny Osmond than to Johnny Depp's spit-curled movie version), the musical's so audience-friendly it plays like Rebel with a Nice Cause.
Rating: Worth a try.
When
Ongoing until Sunday, December 16, 2007
Hours
| Sundays, 7pm & 8pm |
| Thursdays, 8pm |
| Fridays, 8pm |
| Saturdays, 7pm |