The Unforgettable Line

Disruption is the Cheetos Puffs of this summer’s theater season.  It’s not exquisitely well-crafted or even particularly good, but it’s satisfying in its familiarity.  Three close college friends and their wives — the type who frequently enjoyed a summer share on Martha’s Vineyard — find their lives and relationships (appropriately) disrupted when their even more successful tech-bro buddy, Nick, returns to New York ready to seduce them into investing in his latest company.  While the gang may have common sense and realistic goals on their side, Nick has a sexy business partner and a wily algorithm on his.  That’s an intriguing nugget that should deliver fresher insights and more meaningful outcomes, but at least it makes an entertaining nosh.

The scenic design by Zoë Hurwitz is the first indication that the AI is going to have the coolest role.  The set resembles a giant LED-framed iPad with a floor that displays key images, words and phrases in video by Yana Biryükova.  While unquestionably eye-catching, the shape often leaves the characters marching around in circles or sitting in the dark under Hersh Ellis’s direction.  A cold and eery anti-stat control room along the north wall is only visible when lit from the inside (lighting by Reza Behjat).

At first blush, it’s difficult to become emotionally invested in a group of well-off professionals whose challenges range from getting their kids into the right private school to purchasing a large enough Brooklyn brownstone.  But the extraordinarily adept cast elevates Andrew Stein’s thin script to a high enough point that when a real calamity (thankfully?) makes an entrance, the audience audibly gasps in anguish.  The actors’ salvaging of this otherwise pedestrian work makes the treatment of their credits all the more shameful.  I’ve accepted (to a point) the dispensing of a QR code just before a request to turn off my phone.  It’s a practice that began post-pandemic when no one wanted to touch icky paper and somehow persisted in the name of trees.  But I’m genuinely shocked that Equity agreed to the play’s official website omitting links to hard earned biographical information.  What exactly is that meant to preserve besides anonymity?

The first members of the circle that we meet are Ben (Conrad Ricamora of  Oh, Mary! and Here Lies Love) and his wife Suzie (Shaunette Renée Wilson, Fox’s The Resident and NYTW’s Merry Me).  He gives a chalk outline genuine warmth and a smile that seems to radiate from his soul while she purrs through single syllable words like a lioness eyeing her prey.  Irene Sofia Lucio (Liberation, Slave Play) and Elizabeth Stanley (Jagged Little Pill) play competitive sisters Mia and Jill with such genuine affection for their characters you’ll want to go bake cookies with them.  Joe Tippett’s (Waitress) sense of rhythm makes Jill’s husband Paul’s trite jokes seem hilarious and infuses the most mundane of issues with an air of melancholy.  In Mia’s household, Jason Ralph (Peter and the Starcatcher) lends just enough “aw shucks” to conflicted surgeon Barry to appear vulnerable.  Nick’s increasingly heinous behavior is propelled forward purely by means of John David Washington’s (The Piano Lesson) manner and bearing while his partner, the aptly named Raven, is given some feeling by Emma Kikue’s (My Man Kono) interpretation.

Disruption is empty calories dressed up as a fancy meal.  But don’t you sometimes enjoy that airy crunch?  Performances run through October 4 at The Romulus Linney Courtyard Theatre at the Pershing Square Signature Center, 480 W 42nd Street.  (Disruption is not a production of Signature Theatre as is stated plainly in dark grey on the black postcard given out at the door.)  Runtime is closer to 2 ½ hours including intermission than the 2 hour published time frame, so watch those parking meters.  Tickets start at $69 for balcony seats and can be purchased at https://www.disruptionplay.com/ or through the TodayTix app.   Arrive early and enjoy a theme cocktail in the lounge.  Seating is on either side of a slightly elevated stage, and this will guarantee you can get to your chair without… disruption.