Thursday, June 5, 2008

ATW Review: 'Jollyship The Whiz-Bang' - Don't Miss This Pirate Boat


Daniel Kutcher in Jollyship The Whiz-Bang. PHoto: Carol Rosegg

Don't let the environment that scenic designer Donyale Werle has created for Nick Jones and Raja Azar'sJollyship The Whiz-Bang fool you. When you walk into the Ars Nova, where "Jollyship" opened last night, you might think you've stumbled into some cheese-y suburban seafood restaurant where you could take the whole family. But don't be fooled by Werle's set. This is no wholesome family entertainment. It's a riotously funny and ribald adult musical.

Werle's set does set the tone nicely though for this rock 'n' roll pirate puppet adventure that's led by Captain Clamp – a wondrous rod and stick puppet that uses a bright green Chinese opera mask for a head. Clamp's searching not for treasure, but adventure. Specifically, the alcohol chugging and pill-popping seaman wants to lead his band of men to Party Island. Unfortunately, he's haunted by the death of his cabin boy Tom (represented here by a circus clown puppet that seems to have been taken from a child's nursery). Clamp – and his penchant for underage youths while at sea - might have had something to do with Tom's disappearance.

When the ship and crew – which includes lookout Francois Beaujolais and the cat-o-nine tails toting boatswain Dennis (two more marvelously conceived puppets from puppet designer Paul Burn) – encounter a storm, Clamp, haunted and inebriated, is unable to navigate the ship or save some of his crew from death. When the Whiz-Bang finally reaches shore – not at Party Island, but Port Maria, Clamp, with power-hungry deck hand Jumping Jack McGillihan, who's actually a crab, has become born again, and hopes to convert the sinners of this hard-scrabble port to Christianity. A near-death experience ("I hear singing. Do you hear singing, crab? A choir of children; keep me away from them.") returns Clamp to his more worldly ways, and as the curtain falls on "Jollyship," Clamp and his remaining crew are once again off for Party Island.

Jones and Azar's script has an almost naughty school-boy improvisational feel to it. Moments feel almost as if they are being ad libbed and it's a tribute to Sam Gold's freewheeling, yet very controlled production, that so much of "Jollyship" feels as if it is a show that's just being slapped together. It's a quality that makes the action and the writing all the more hilarious.


Nick Jones in Jollyship The Whiz-Bang. Photo: Carol Rosegg

Jones has not only written the piece, he's also the show's lead singer and provides the gruff, irreverent and sometimes downright nasty voice and characterization for Clamp. Azar's on hand as a performer too – playing Mr. Skeevy, Clamp's first mate and – no pun intended – straight man. These two, with band-mates Keith Fredrickson, Daniel Kutcher and Jesse Wallace, deliver the show's hard-hitting rock score with near volcanic energy and flair. Their work is ably matched by Julie Lake and Steve Boyer, who perform as puppeteers for multiple roles in the show. Boyer, in particular, delights as the snooty deck hand, bringing to mind a crustacean incarnation of David Hyde Pierce in his role of Niles on television's "Frasier."

It's a grand crew to set sail with and a perfect dark confection for early summertime theatergoing.

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Jollyship The Whiz-Bang plays at Ars Nova (511 West 54th Street). Performances are Wednesday through Saturday at 8pm. Tickets are $25.00 and can be purchased by calling 212-868-4444 or by visiting http://www.smarttix.com/. Further information is available online at http://www.arsnovanyc.com/

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