Cute But Dumb

Adrift in Macao. Primary Stages. 59E59 Theaters. 2/14/07

I wouldn't date someone who was cute but dumb, and I'm a little dubious about a musical with the same qualities. Christopher Durang's new musical (with music by Peter Melnick), Adrift in Macao, has moments when it's really fun, but generally eschews being clever in favor of being wacky. In the program, Durang distinguishes his "satiric and dark comedy plays" and "entertainments" which include "parodies and what I might call my 'friendly, silly' plays." Adrift in Macao has nothing dark about it, which is odd for a parody of a genre that's all about light and shadow, discontent with society and the darker side of human nature.

It manages to be a fun play with some good moments, but more attention to the strengths of the genre being parodied would help quite a bit. There are some fun musical numbers, paticularly "Adrift in Macao" and "Mr. McGuffin" even though I find the whole McGuffin plot irritating. The night club songs, as they often are in '40s films, are more irritating and stupid than compelling. And the premise of Rick (Will Swenson as Rick Shaw) inserting a song because he's not getting enough attention, while briefly funny, seems to me a rip off of the self-conscious songs of Spamalot. Swenson is, however, an interesting and underused actor and character. He looks the part of the film noir hero more than Alan Campbell does; Campbell's a bit too cuddly for the role, in my opinion, and the stubble fails to make him look tough at all. This is funny, though, since he also played the lead in another film noir musical, Sunset Boulevard.

The elements that Adrift in Macao picked up from the film Macao are by far its strongest parts, though Durang seems to have chosenthe one noir film without much in the way of femme fatale. While Jane Russel's character in the film (Lureena played by Rachel De Benedet in Durang's version) is tough and interesting and capable of taking care of herself, all she wants is to settle down somewhere, preferably back in the USA. In Durang's version, she actually says all she wants is a man to take care of her. Groan. And does she really have to be that blond? I hated her wig.

Macao itself, for a film set in distant and exotic Asia, actually isn't that bad in terms of Asian sterotypes, so Durang adds a few for good measure. Tempura, the "inscrutable" Asian who frequently insists "I'm very scrutable!" is an annoying and offensive role played hilariously by Orville Mendoza.

Michele Ragusa plays Corinna, a rival nightclub singer, and she's fun and funny and has excellent comedic skills. She and Mendoza may be the best things about this play. But unfortunately, noir is not a genre in which a second lead comedic pair really works, so their roles are rather nonsensical despite their talents and best efforts.

Overall, Adrift in Macao had many jokes that made me laugh outwardly and groan inwardly at the same time. I did have fun watching the play, but that's not really enough for me. I kept feeling that with a little tweaking it could have been a much better play, especially if it hadn't assumed its audience was stupid. For example, in a few of the early scenes, Tempura carries around the Maltese falcon, which is a fun reference for those of us in the know. Eventually, Rick Shaw explains that he's going to use it to smuggle fake diamonds, which actually makes the reference less funny than when it was just a funny object hanging around. At one point, Corrina invites Mitch to "come up and see me some time." Why use a Mae West line, when there are fabulous seduction scenes between Bacal and Bogart that would have been just as familiar and so much more noir ("You do know how to whistle, don't you" springs to mind). I would have loved to see more references to noir films that actually assume some people in the audience might have some knowledge of the genre. Concepts such as existentialism and film noir are not entirely foreign to most people with any sort of education, so even though it's not safe to assume that people have seen Macao or any given specific noir film, it would have been nice to have given them credit for familiarity with film noir in general.