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The familiar macho stereotypes-football, excessive beer drinking,large breasts,aversion to homosexuality, are given a ribald send up in Balls:The Musical, workshopped at this year's (2011) New York Musical Theatre Festival. The unique twist in this exercise in non-stop zaniness and satire, is that the five comrades who share these militantly manly proclivities are all aspiring musical theatre performers, who sing and dance and go to a large number of psychologically shattering auditions that sorely test their ability to retain their status as happy-go-lucky, unfeeling brutes, secure in their status as charter members of Neanderthals Inc.
The highlights of the production involved the unfailing comedic chemistry of the performers; they somehow managed to maintain straight (no pun intended) faces while bombastically belting the most patently absurd, gruesomely over the top, homages to forms of old-school male chauvinism that are assuredly extinct, even within the most benighted backwaters of the trailer park.
"Ballpoints" were aphoristic reminders to women, delivered with impeccably ironic thrusts, regarding the basics of male/female behaviors seen from the perspective of the troupe. These side-splitting gems of classic male impenetrability, brought to mind the wit and wisdom of Archie Bunker. Brandon Ellis' skill in evoking the self-assured male's profound conviction of his own infallibility, was especially noteworthy. In fact, the "ballpoints" were so successful, as the audience's reaction showed, that I thought they could have been used more often and to even greater effect had they been made to function as a structuring narrative device, a framing mechanism more heavily relied upon.
The songs were brilliant especially the transformation of big Broadway hits to conform to the sexually obsessed sensibilities of the performers. Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Memory" becomes "Mammaries," and if that offends you, well, this show is not for you. Mr. Ellis' blissfully whimsical, infinitely yearning rendition, in his real Broadway tenor's voice (Mr.Ellis was in Company a few years back) puts to shame the many song satires that make the rounds these days. Its poignancy and brilliance reflects the impossibilities of adolescent desire at its fiercest and most unattainable. This piece, written by Brandon Ellis must be anthologized; it should become a touchstone of this genre of satirical songwriting. All of which is not to slight the other wild and wooly tunes performed with such verve and madcap unpredictability.
Because of its relentless wit, Balls: The Musical, makes you think as well as laugh.
******
Balls: The Musical is written by Bret Carr in collaboration with Mick Bonde, Brandon Ellis, Michael “Tuba” McKinsey and Nick Verina.
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