The following are the last two lines in the bio of Luigi Creatore, playwright of Flamingo Court: "After retiring to Florida, Mr. Creatore wrote the Off-Broadway play The Man Who Shot Lincoln and began writing about the Florida scene for the Boca Raton Community Theater. Much of those works morphed into Flamingo Court." Cretore also mentions in his bio that he was born in 1921. A man in his 80s writes a couple of short plays for a community theater in Florida (one without a website apparently, because google-ing the phrases "Luigi Creatore" and "Boca Raton" turns up nothing other than references to the NY production of Flamingo Court), and someone thinks this should be given a first class off-Broadway production. Well, I'll give the producer credit for two this - first, at least this didn't end up on Broadway like "Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks" (which was Tennessee Williams compared to this...), and second, it's playing in the summer when a large part of it's audience is still in NY, and not south for the winter. I mean, I understand I'm not in the 70+ age demographic that this was written for, but even so, I think I can recognize good taste when I see it, and Flamingo Court is just plain embarrassing. The show consists of three short plays, all starring Anita Gillette and Jaimie Farr (there are also other supporting actors in the first and third), all taking place at the Flamingo Court retirement community in Florida. The first section is a "comedy" about a woman whose husband is bed-ridden, but still gets together with two friends - one is a female buddy, the other is a man who is so in love with her that he's thinking of poisoning her dying husband. Except what he doesn't know is that her husband actually died two years ago, and she's been lying about his condition all this time. Not that I didn't laugh in this part, but I was really embarrassed to be laughing because each guffaw was accompanied by a cringe. The second section is one of those plays that attempts to pluck your heartstrings, and Farr plays a man who has to put his wife in a nursing home because she's losing her memory. She doesn't want to go the home (obviously), and reminds him that he long ago would kill her to put her out of her misery. You don't want to know how it ends, but it's a jaw dropper - and not in a good way. Did I mention this scene takes place during a thunder storm? Subtlety is not this show's strong suit. The third and worst of all has Farr playing an old man repeatedly farts in a closet to spite his daughter (who thinks he's hidden some treasure in there), and Gillette playing a hooker is tight, shiny gold pants, a low cut neon pink top, and a long (purposefully) tacky long blond wig. I'm telling you I'm going to have nightmares tonight. I suspect the looks on the audience members' faces somewhat resembled those of the audience for "Springtime of Hitler" in The Producers. It's possible I laughed so hard I shed a tear of two, but any tears were tears of pain, not joy. I would almost say this would be something I would recommend for my grandmother to see, but I know she would hate the middle play because she hates watching sad, depressing stuff; and besides for that, I have to think she has some level of taste. I can see this maybe working as a lark at the Boca Raton Community Theater, but putting this on in NY for (I just checked) a top ticket price of $72.50 (not including premium seats), is just depressing. I don't think I mentioned it, but the actors are all absolutely game for everything they are asked to do, they all do a beautiful job with what they're given - and they seem like wwthey're having a good time up there, but I feel bad thinking how desperate for work they all must be to agree to do a play like Flamingo Court.
On the much happier side of the comedy coin, is Perfect Harmony, an delightful gem of a show playing at Theater Row, off-Broadway. It played at the Fringe Festival a few years ago, and my vague recollection is that the buzz was good, but that it was at the out of the way theatre on the Lower East Side that I was too lazy to go to. Well it's back, this time in a better location, and based on some renewed good buzz I took a chance and was totally charmed. It's about two competing a cappella groups in a high school - "The Ladies in Red" and the "A Cafellas." It's sort of like Spelling Bee, where each character has his or own endearing neurosis. The show also (obviously) includes a bunch of songs sung a cappella, most of them are pop songs sung a capella by the actors, as straight faced as possible, all of which are extremely amusing. I can't remember any exact examples - partly because they were all songs I recognized but didn't necessarily know the titles of, but mostly because this is one of those shows that's not necessarily all that memorable for it's content, but rather for the feeling it leaves after the show ends - it's like it went in one ear and out the other, but it dropped happy little drops of sunshine along its way across my brain. It's nice to go into a show with no expectations, and to just sit back, relax, and smile for 110 minutes or so. I think this extended through August 9th, and I'd say it's worth catching if you have the time.
