Tag Archives: Jerry Orbach Theater

Friends! The Unauthorized Musical Parody

Comedy, Musical, Off-Broadway November 24, 2025 Leave a comment

My friends will confirm:  I am not a Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte or Samantha.  I am a Monica.  If that doesn’t conjure up a distinct image, Friends! The Unauthorized Musical Parody is not for you.  If I have to explain that the plot revolves around six 20-somethings living a suspiciously upscale lifestyle in 1990s Manhattan, you are unlikely to be in on the jokes.  From the Smelly Cat cocktail onward, this two-hour jovial send-up is for fans who indulged in repeated TV viewings (thank you streaming).  The current open-ended Off-Broadway run began in 2021 and has spawned productions across the country and overseas.

The current core cast members — Francesco DiFlora, Anthony Gjelaj, Corinne Holland, Piper Loebach, Sam Massey, and Briana Sky Riley — remind us how gifted actors give their all for love of the craft in its myriad forms.  They have wonderfully clear voices and terrific timing beyond what is required for a light-as-a-feather production like this one.  DiFlora in particular must be eating his Wheaties (or whatever kids do these days) taking on a host of supporting roles along with the much beloved Chandler Bing.  And Holland’s Phoebe gets that hopeful opening guitar strum just right every time.  Andie Angel played the suitably thankless role of Gunther at the performance I attended.

The book by Bob and Tobly McSmith isn’t particularly clever, instead leaning into token tributes to every trope and tag line of Friends’ 10 year run.  Their lyrics set to Asaf Gleizner’s music are sharper, with the winking “495 Grove Street – How Can We Afford This Place?,” an ode to Pivoting, and a salute to salaries — set to a tune quite similar to one sung by a very different group of buddies — providing highlights.  The pre-recorded back-up chorus (sound design by John Hartman and Brad Sievers) adds depth in the shallow house.

Director Ryan Barto keeps things moving on the singular set with flipping panels that switch between Central Perk — New York City’s only coffee shop — and Monica’s spotless apartment complete with purple front door. There is not much in the way of character development.  The assumption is you know these people as well as you know your actual friends.  But the wigs by Conor Donnelly do more than the usual share of heavy lifting when it comes to helpful visual reminders.  

Friends! The Unauthorized Musical Parody is to the performing arts as Cheez Doodles are to Époisses de Bourgogne.  It offers suitable bang for the buck and goes down well with a Janice Double Wine.  The show is playing at the Jerry Orbach Theater, 210 West 50th Street, 3rd Floor.  The seats are softer than a sofa found in an alleyway, but the staff is as warm and gracious as the one at the newly reopened Waldorf.  Running time is approximately 2 hours with one intermission.  Content is PG-13 and will be funniest to those fluent in Friends culture.  Tickets are currently on sale through January 1 at https://www.friendsoffbroadway.com/ which often has BOGO offers.

The Lights Are Bright Off Broadway

Off-Broadway, Round-up September 3, 2025 Leave a comment

The New York theater scene is most often associated with Broadway, but there is a diverse audience that actually prefers to head Off-Broadway.  (I count myself among them.)  The descriptor has nothing to do with location, but rather the number of seats — between 100-499 — making for a more intimate shared experience.  Not needing to attract as large a crowd or pay sky high production costs allows tickets to be offered at relatively budget-friendly prices. Additionally, themes are often more daring: speaking to the issues of our time with an unexpected voice.  Many works are brand new, possibly even still evolving.  However, most runs are just a few weeks long, so here are a few to keep on your radar.

The six performances spaces of Theatre Row have welcomed a number of smaller companies from Pan Asian Rep to the community minded Keen Company as well as played host to the country’s largest celebration of monologues, United Solo. Now playing through September 29 is Sober Songs. With a score comprised of a range of musical styles, this dark comedy by Michael Levin tells the story of six young adults who meet at a local AA group.  Emotions flow from carefree and charming to raw and deep, much like the recovery process itself.

Housed in the Theatre at St. Jean down a flight of stairs on an Upper East Side side street is The York Theater.  Founded by three theater professionals over fifty years ago, their focus is on new musicals and lost gems.  This fall season begins on Tuesday, September 9, with the World Premiere of This is Not a Drill.  The script was inspired by the experience of Holly Doubet in 2018 when a false alert went out to residents and visitors that there was an missile attack headed for Hawaii.  The book is by Doubet and Joseph McDonough with music and lyrics by Doubet, Kathy Babylon and John Vester. 

Also calling a church home is the Theatre at St. Clements.  Nestled in the heart of Hells Kitchen, this steep venue has launched new works by David Mamet, Terrence McNally, Sam Shepherd, and Julie Taymor among others.  Beginning September 5th, the storied tradition continues with False Steps, a ballroom comedy written by dance champion Candace H. Caplin and Kim St. Leon, with original music and lyrics by Jesse Corbin.  Starring Caplin, this farcefollows a floundering playwright whose life takes an unpredictable turn when her recently widowed mother falls for a much younger ballroom dance instructor. 

Positioned firmly on your funny bone is Asylum NYC which offers stand-up comedians, sketch and improv troupes and musical reviews.  Beginning on Wednesday, September 17, performances of Exorcist: The Rock Musical will be followed by the Slam Frank.  With a score by Andrew Fox and a book by Joel Sinensky, this satire is perfect for those who think South Park doesn’t go nearly far enough.  Inspired by a truly bonkers provocative tweet, the Afro-Latin hip-hop musical puts the story of Anne Frank through a pan-gender, feminist, multiethnic lens to create a work that has already sparked spirited conversation.  

Long before finding household fame in Law & Order, Jerry Orbach starred in the long-running Fantasticks.  Now the black box where the revival played on the third floor of  The Theater Center bears his name.  (A smaller space honoring his wife sits across from it.)  The chairs in the Orbach feel like the sectional you should have replaced last year and the A/C is cranked to an 11, but the staff is welcoming and there are no bad seats.  Recently, it’s been home to both The Office and Friends parody shows.  But more progressive works are scheduled in between the comfort food.  Starting on September 24 on Wednesdays at 2 pm, Fridays at 4 pm and Sundays at 6 pm is Kipp Koenig’s The Glitch. This timely sci-fi dramedy uses a woman’s visit to an AI simulator lab to explore life decisions, emotional connection, and the interdependence of love and forgiveness.  

These are just some of the spaces offering risk-taking, thought-provoking, conversation- stimulating theater… and that’s just September!  So consider enlivening your entertainment line-up with something brand-new and uniquely theatrical.

Sulfur Bottom

Off-Broadway, Play August 31, 2025 Leave a comment

Recently I took a tour of the history of New York City’s electrical system.  Most of the infrastructure had been placed in marginalized neighborhoods.  That this is not new news made it no less distressing to witness.  These projects are essential for supporting modern day conveniences, but it’s always at the expense of those with less money and power to push them into someone else’s backyard.  

That lack of equity is at the heart of Rishi Varma’s Sulfur Bottom.  But this is not an “issues play.”  Instead, by blending naturism with otherworldliness, playwright Varma has crafted a bewitching modern day folktale.  It may be as ugly and bloodstained as the rug featured in the central family home, but it’s centered.  Resonant themes of familial connections, hard-won second chances, and the importance of home are woven in.  This distinctive approach draws in an audience that might not listen otherwise.  To make an even more meaningful point, the production has partner with WE ACT for Environmental Justice (https://weact.org/) for their Off Broadway run.

Director Megumi Nakamura has done an incredible job of pile driving down to the bedrock of emotions underlying the sophisticated, fantastical plot.  And we are surrounded by sound and sight cues that keep us “in it” with the characters. Each revelation comes with a musical theme (composer Jacob Brandt).  The location of the house in question is on land so polluted the house literally groans in pain (sound design by Sid Diamond).  Even the flowered wallpaper and aforementioned rug are slowly poisoned (set design by Daniel Prosky).  The overhead lights saturate the space in appropriate jaundice-yellow tones (lighting design Sam Weiser).  While there is no olfactory component, it’s easy to conjure up the corresponding odor of decay.

Of course it is the cast that lures us in.  There is tension between Sir Cavin (Kevin Richard Best) and his teenage daughter Fran (Kendyl Grace Davis).  She has killed [another?] deer which is now lying on a cutting block near their much-disliked rug.  It’s clear their conversation about the circle of life has been playing on repeat.  Sir Cavin’s belief in this interconnection has been his North Star.  But Fran finds the animals that surround them both noisy and dangerous.

Joyah Dominique, Feyisola Soetan (foreground) and Kevin Richard Best in Sulfur Bottom;
photo by Austin Pogrob



Also in the home is Sir Cavin sister Melissa (Joyah Dominique).  Though she once hoped to move to San Francisco to be a performer, she has resigned herself to keeping a watchful eye on her niece.  As the piece drifts back and forth through time over the course of 40 years— sometimes spanning two decades simultaneously — we meet Fran’s husband Winter (Eric Easter) and daughter Maeve (Feyisola Soetan) as well as Sir Cavin’s friend Copal (Aaron Dorelien) whose ambition perverts the course of their lives.

Performances of Sulfur Bottom are Wednesdays at 7:30 and Saturdays at 1:00 at The Jerry Orbach Theater, 210 West 50th Street, 3rd Floor.  Tickets are available through October 11 at https://www.sulfurbottom.com/.  The shallow venue is ¾ round with well loved seats and over-achieving air conditioning.  A colorful beverage from the bar might add to your feeling of joining the characters in their living room.  

If the ancients had spun a tradition myth about the spirits of environmental justice, it would share DNA with Sulfur Bottom.   It is a cautionary tale, but told with warmth, love, and a touch of humor.  We all want a better life for our children.  But some have a whale of a chance of making it happen.