This is a musical about two guys writing musical that had its origin when, in 2004, Jeff Bowen and Hunter Bell saw entry was open for participation in the first New York Musical Theatre Festival. They decided to enter by writing a new musical despite the deadline for submissions being only three weeks away. With input from their friends, Susan Blackwell and Heidi Blickenstaff, they put together a show about making that very show and got it accepted, premièring at the festival and eventually, four years later, opening on Broadway with them playing themselves in a version which continued the story of its production.
In this latest revival, Thomas Oxley plays Jeff and Jacob Fowler Hunter is Hunter, with Mary Moore as Susan and Abbie Budden as Heidi. They deliver four beautifully interlocking performances, while director Christopher D Clegg has them switching place and rushing around the stage in a whirlwind of movement that disguises the fact that nothing is actually happening. The pace is often so fast that even niche enthusiasts may not catch everything. I certainly didn’t, but I did note some jokey forced rhymes and a new word coined when porn distracts Hunter from writing and Jeff calls him a procrastibator.
There is something about the way the boys' fingers add emphasis that suggests they are gay, and and one of the girls has them down to be bridesmaids at her wedding, but RuPaul campness is kept in the closet, though there is some tongue-in-cheek employment of cliché show number poses.
Presented on a thrust stage in one hectic, 90-minute single act, it has a simple setting of four chairs on four rostrums that designer Hazel McIntosh backs with a panel of colourful images.
As they play with ideas, fill in the application form (title of show being a question that gets itself as an answer), seek inspiration, deal with setbacks, imagine success, dream of the future, all that in itself becomes the show.
It sees the creation of a succession of songs that are lively if not particularly memorable. The girls get the best ones. Mary Moore and Abbie Budden are splendidly paired for “What Kind of Girl is She?” in which Susan and Heidi express suspicions about each other, and soon after, Mary Moore’s Susan leads a spirited rendition of “Die, Vampire, Die!”, which banishes inner demons of doubt. Director Christopher D Clegg keeps his cast active, switching places
[title of show] is a relatively slight piece carried along by light-hearted music, performer energy and its abundance of show business references. There is a niche audience of musical nerds who will probably love it, and with a little indulgence, it can be fun for others too.