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Gutenberg! The Musical!
By Scott Brown and Anthony King
Directed By Alex Timbers
Produced By John Pinckard
At Royal George Theater
1641 N. Halsted Ave
Chicago, IL
Call- 312-902-1500. Tickets $35-$25 for students/seniors
Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays at 8 P.M. Saturdays at 5 and 9 P.M.
Sundays at 3 and 7 P.M.
90 Minutes with Intermission
Through August 10, 2008
Good, Original Comedy is a Rare Find
In an editorial for the New York Times this week, comedian Jerry Seinfeld claims that many times when has had a good idea for a comedy sketch, his joke would be stopped by the fact that George Carlin had already done it. Seinfeld’s tribute to the comedian celebrates his always being one step ahead of other comedians and doing jokes first. Seinfeld, who definitely found his own niche in the comedy world, claims that not only did Carlin do the jokes, he did them better than other comedians could have even imagined them. Good, original comedy is a rare find. When it does come along, its originality is what first shocks us, almost appalls us, and then makes us laugh. Comedy lacking in originality, even if it is shocking, can sometimes not quite inspire that same laughter.
“Guttenberg! The Musical” is billed as a satire of the silliness of many of the Broadway musicals of today and their frequently formulaic nature (for example, when describing the show to the audience, the actors claim that they have addressed the Holocaust in the musical because all good musicals must address something serious). The piece often takes breaks from the action for the characters, Bud and Doug, to share about their “real” selves or to give an elementary, intentionally surface level, theater education to the audience. Designed to be a representation of the worst idea for a musical, ever, “Gutenberg” attacks the types of Broadway shows that are now made, the consumerism of our society and is laced with less than hidden political commentary.
This musical has some very funny moments, and some of the musical numbers are both catchy and well written. The creativity of the writers definitely shines through in some of the jokes that make nearly the whole audience laugh because they just weren’t expecting the characters to say something so zany or because they hit the absurdity of some of today’s real Broadway, and other artistic, productions right on the head. Unfortunately, many of the most creative jokes and numbers seem to come at the very beginning of the musical and the end of the show seems to be fleeing with the originality of the script and music.
For me, this play ends up being a combination of two great artistic American moments, Mel Brooks’ “The Producers” and “History of the World Part 1”. Why isn’t “Gutenberg! The Musical!” as successful as these comedic masterpieces? Primarily, it is due to a concept which could not sustain itself for more than an hour on stage. Sure, “The Producers” has the premise of two men designing a bad musical, much like “Gutenberg”. A small portion of “The Producers”, however, is actually showing this bad musical to the audience. The majority of the show is dedicated to character and plot development, why the characters want to develop the musical, how they do it, what happens when it goes wrong, etc. “Gutenberg,” on the other hand, takes the opposite approach and dedicates very little time into why Bud and Doug want to produce a show. The characters are purposefully so pathetic that one can only guess that it is because of a lack of anything better to do.
“History of the World” takes a wild look at history and puts often puts things where they shouldn’t be for a comic hit. The successes of “History of the World” lie in scenes like the Spanish Inquisition musical number. “Gutenberg” abuses history much less creatively, by only mentioning facts about history that are absurd, but not true. After the first few instances of this, the audience begins to think “that isn’t right, that’s not what happened…,” rather than laugh.
Like Seinfeld’s comments on Carlin, a major importance of comedy is its originality. It’s difficult to successfully reproduce something that had already been done so well. The show definitely is designed with a young, raised on “South Park,” audience in mind. It uses the same insensitive, at times almost violent, comedy that is so popular today. I couldn’t see the show surviving for long in Chicago anywhere outside of Lincoln Park. The show takes pleasure in, and capitalizes on, breaking boundaries of topics that are considered socially forbidden or delicate. Jokes about dead babies, Jews, women, and a political satire that is solely supported by a bad southern accent are hardly original. The show depends on these to survive, and until the audience realizes that that’s all it’s got, it kind of works. “Kind of” and “Until” are key words here. “Gutenberg’s” writers never seem to fully find the comic voice that can be seen in short, relieving, segments of the show. Maybe a play that shows a terrible idea for a musical can’t help but be bad. Satire, however, is so much more than placing the audience in an uncomfortable situation. There must be some light that is created in the darkness that is being shown. Otherwise, what is being criticized is only being recreated.
Somewhat Recommended
Ryan McQuade
mcquadry@yahoo.com for comments
Date Reviewed: June 25, 2008
Gutenberg! The Musical!
Review by Tom Williams
Date Reviewed: June 25, 2008
Scott Brown and Anthony King’s spoof of two writers of a new musical is a tedious, unfunny and gross show that is short on satire and long on bad taste. Playing more as a sketch comedy piece than a musical, “Gutenberg! The Musical!” unfolds as an over written parody short on funny bits and long on distasteful references. It purposefully has two guys trying to sell their awful musical to a Broadway producer. But that razor thin premise that tries to musicalize Johann Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press quickly becomes tiresome as this terrible show wonders into extremely gruesome references that trivializes: The Holocaust, dead infants, Germans and women as it uses an anti-Semitic flower girl as comic foil. Maybe the humor (what there is) is geared to the 20something generation as several younger audience members laughed a lot while all us older folks didn’t laugh at all?
While there are some witty bits, “Gutenberg” has many generic and forgettable songs and utilizes the donning of blue and white baseball caps to denote the various characters in this lame musical. Breon Bliss and Alex Goodrich work hard to make something out of this limited material with their modest singing ability. They try too hard to eek out the humor in this narrow piece. They so over play the comedy, that we don’t believe they think they show is any good. Where is honesty here? If they don’t believe in the show, how will the Broadway producers believe in it enough to write a check? Among the many flaws in this show is one of the premises—that once Gutenberg invents the printing press, people will read what he prints. Problem: the show also admits that most Germans in 1450 were illiterate. The show says that once Gutenberg can print Bibles, people will read them. Da! How can a printing press teach folks how to read?
In summary, “Gutenberg! The Musical!” should be a short sketch piece so that it will not topple over with the weight of trying to be a full musical with more than a dozen songs and two acts over 90+ minutes. No matter how much energy Bliss and Goodrich expend, nothing can save this tedious, one joke mess. Serious cuts, more biting satire and a tighter focus would serve this work well. As it now plays, only the 20something’s will laugh—the older more sophisticated theatre patrons will cringe at this show.
Not Recommended
Tom Williams
Tom99@chicagocritic.com for comments
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