Slut
nytheatre.com review by Thomas Weitz
September 30, 2005
Like the word itself, Slut! is playful, dirty, risqué, and only barely insulting. The songs are hilarious, the characters colorful, and watching it is like drinking a Cosmopolitan—sweet with a hint of sophistication, leaving you giddy; silly and soon forgotten.
As you may have guessed, Slut!, the new musical at the American Theatre of Actors, is about sex (and drinking). How wonderful, confusing, harmful, and casual it can be (sex, drinking, or both). Of course this is sex in the twenty-something WB kind of way, meaning no AIDS, no nudity, and perfect morning hair. Even the costumes could be from the latest episode of One Tree Hill. Think women’s J. Crew shirts and skirts the color of flavored martinis, and men’s business casual Dockers and urban casual Diesel. Even the number of main characters, three men and three women, carries the sort of odd symmetry you only find in sitcoms like Friends.
But this is where the comparison between sitcoms and Slut! ends. Slut! is more South Park movie than Dawson’s Creek and although the story may sound familiar (boys meet girls, misunderstandings, and happy resolve), you aren’t likely to find a rendition quite like this.
The lead character is Adam and befitting the role he is handsome, confident, and charming. His two best friends are Dan, the sweet innocent one, and J-Dogg, the emotionally underdeveloped “hip-hop head” who postures sexual promiscuity when-all-he-really-wants-is-love one (a la Seth Green in Can’t Hardly Wait). Unlike the stereotypes they purport to represent, these characters defy expectation. Unlike other leading men—the type of characters George Clooney or Brad Pitt might play—Adam doesn’t pretend to be a gentleman. He is a self-proclaimed, full-blown, honest-to-goodness slut. Dan may be the innocent one, but he is also the clingy, self-absorbed, sexually repressed one. And J-Dogg, despite his affinity for FUBU jumpsuits, doesn’t even try to rap. Instead, he sings about the trials and travails of Herpes in the sweetest falsetto voice you’ve ever heard.
The female equivalents to these three men are no less amusing or unexpected, and as you might imagine bringing these two groups of people together results in a story with more nasty twists then a dirty curly straw. By the end of the first act, Adam the Slut realizes he has slept with every attractive woman in New York and decides to leave on his newly sequestered sailboat, the HMS Donkey Balls, to find women in new countries to conquer. Dan, the sweet one, gives up his innocence and trades in his true love for the life of a “monster” slut. One of the women, Janey, who gets married at the beginning of the show, realizes she doesn’t really know her husband as well as she thought. And one of Janey’s best friends, a struggling musician named Delia, finally gets the record contract she has always wanted but has to contend with a record executive who likes to stick contracts in his posterior.
As with any comedy this removed from reality, the humor in Slut! would not work without actors with timing and conviction. This cast is not only as talented and skilled as their list of Broadway and Off-Broadway credits belie, but they're an ensemble that possesses a rare mix of playfulness and professionalism. Jenn Colella, who plays the independent but vulnerable musician Delia, is as delicate and thorny as a rose, and although she only has one chance to really belt it out, has a powerful voice to boot. Mary Faber adds flavor to the play as a collection of minor characters, including one of Delia’s friends, a charming if clichéd dumb blonde named Veronica. Andy Karl, who plays Adam the Slut, is the momentum behind the show, delivering each of his numbers with moxie and graciously giving up the spotlight when needed. Kevin Pariseau plays the equivalent to all of the slightly random and askew characters in The Simpsons like the old sea-dog and the perpetually drunk bar regular, appearing out of nowhere like a magician and never missing a beat in transition. Harriett D. Foy, who plays a bartender and a variety of supporting roles shows off her Broadway experience by pulling out one of the best received songs in the show, “Lower the Bar,” a silky jazz number about sexual standards, despite being left on stage with little in the way of staging or choreography. Finally, Jim Stanek, David Josefberg, and Amanda Watkins round out the cast nicely, each contributing strong performances, the latter two in multiple supporting roles.
In addition to the great acting, what makes this play better then a shot of tequila and some dirty jokes, are the lyrics, written by Ben H. Winters, which are both intelligent and pee-in-your-pants funny, and the music, written by Stephen Sislen, which merge musical genres seamlessly to fit the mood of the various scenes throughout the play, and an incredibly tight band that brings them all together. In fact the only aspect of the show I didn’t think was up to par is the set design by Beowolf Boritt, whose choice of colors constantly compete with the actors for the audience’s attention, and whose central set piece—an impressively large two-story book case lined with bottles—breaks up the stage into awkward pockets of space. The awkwardness of the set could also have been handled with greater finesse by director Gordon Greenberg who has done an amiable if underwhelming job, at times doing little more then placing the actors on stage. To be fair, whether by design or accident, Greenberg should be given credit for the outstanding chemistry of the cast. Last, but certainly not least, Warren Carlyle’s choreography keeps the show moving at a good pace, and at times is so brilliantly in tune with the humor of the show that the actors' movements just seem to flow naturally from the story.
The minor flaws in the production aside, going to see Slut! is a lot like a drunken one night-stand: it isn’t a good idea for a first date, no kids should be allowed, and I don’t recommend it for recovering alcoholics. In fact, at $55 a ticket, much like drunken sex with a stranger, you may find it a little bit expensive for something that is only fun while it lasts.
