By Bart Greenberg***A century ago the horrors of WWl informed Dadaism, the European art movement expressing nonsense, irrationality and anti-bourgeois protest. At around the same time, the Surrealists, in the aftermath of the war, began depicting unnerving, illogical scenes, often through techniques that allowed the unconscious mind to express itself. By this time, the work of pioneering psychiatrist Sigmund Freud was well-established, with notions about the unconscious mind and how dreams could be a gateway to it. Then came along Dashiell Hammett who created the iconic tough guy detective Sam Spade in 1930.
And today, all of these concepts have combined to inspire Who Murdered Love? currently running at Theater for the New City. The piece was co-written, co-composed and directed by Lissa Moira. But the puzzle pieces don’t fit together very well. The story rambles for two hours (plus intermission) without much drive or focus. A lot of characters do a lot of things, some entertaining, some not. A lot of songs are sung, some attractive, some not. The same with the performances. And the mood of the evening constantly shifts and changes with very little logic.
We begin with a prologue. It seems to be some sort of ancient ceremony with a central figure, DaDa Love (Ejyp Johnson, possessor of a fine baritone) clad in generic Biblical garb surrounded by a group of more modern figures who half sing/half chant the closest thing the show has to a title song, “Mad for Love”—after which they seem to do him in. Next, we’re taken to Hammettland, where private detective Sleepy Sam Speed (John David West), possessor of a flask of cheap alcohol, a cheap trench coat, a cheap office and a World War I veteran bitterness. He also has the requisite wisecracking and long-suffering gal Friday named Gail Friday (yes, I fear that is the subtly of the cleverness on display), played by Rori Nogee with far more spirit and goodwill than the role offers. In the office is also the eager, not-too-bright, and perpetually horny trainee Everett Greene (Chase Wolfe, giving the most charming performance of the production).
Things get stirred up when the leggy blond heiress Honey Potts (yes, her name sounds more like a James Bond tootsie) enters, inhabited by the sadly-low-on-charisma Alisa Ermolaey seeking to find out what has happened to her latest lover, the same DaDa Love from the prologue. Greene and Potts share a cute number, “Oh No She’s a Blonde,” before she gets him to drink a liquor that sends him off to points unknown. It’s called “Green Fairy” and soon Speed and Friday are drinking and following their colleague during a somewhat haunting production number of that name. Somehow they will soon enter into the blonde’s dreams to search for the missing guru (thanks to Dr. Freud). But before that, we are exposed to a sophomoric parody entitled “My Heart Belongs to DaDa,” with no credit to Mr. Cole Porter, and a case of diminishing returns as it grinded through verse after verse.
In a Parisian Wonderland we meet a whole lot of characters with a whole lot of different accents. The most prominent of them is The Countess Analise, an American hyper-sexual broad who married well. She lists her various celebrity lovers that range over a hundred years or more. Louisa Bradshaw played the role as if she were the illegitimate daughter of Lotte Lenya and Kaye Ballard. It wasn’t her fault that her lengthy (very lengthy) number stopped the show in the worst way possible, as did the awkward following sequence where she tried to seduce both Speed and Friday in the most unerotic way. Then, for no particular reason, there was an intermission.
The second half began in a bucolic setting where a lovely young woman named Blossom (Amy Catherine Welch) is painting a canvas. Greene, who we haven’t seen in close to an hour, wanders into the scene, and in true musical comedy tradition, is instantly smitten, so they launch into a cute duet entitled “Walking on Moonbeams,” even though the scene is set in bright sunlight. She proposes to paint him and he instantly strips to his shorts (the nicest scenery of the evening) as she begins to apply paint to his chest. This leads to them making passionless love and then singing a very dark tune called “Who Am I That You Should Love Me?”, creating an inexplicable shift in mood.
The detective and his secretary show up and the original mystery plot is finally picked up. So all the suspects are gathered into a room, the murder was reenacted and it seemed everyone was guilty. Nick Charles would have offered a clearer explanation. He also wouldn’t have pointed a gun at the audience; Speed did, which was highly uncomfortable and completely pointless.
Suddenly we are back in Speed’s office with the three employees and Blossom (how she transferred out of the dream is unexplained). While canoodling and lounging they sing a charming but completely irrelevant song entitled “A Lazin’ and A Lovin’” (the publicity material stated that the score was inspired by Hoagy Carmichael); this song seemed to be the one most inspired by him. Finally, we were whisked off to a society party where all the other dream characters magically reappear, including DaDa Love who delivers a reprise of the almost-title song, promising to return when the world accepts love and compassion—in a tone that suggests DaDa is Jesus. And thus Who Murdered Love? ended.
Also in the cast were William Broderick, Sage Buchalter and Jef Canter. Richard West provided the inconsistent music and contributed to the book. Louisa Bradshaw and Gregory Nissen contributed bits and pieces to the score. Peter Dizozza served as music director and piano accompanist; his pre-show performance of such standards as “Goody Goody” and “You’d Be Surprised” were a highlight of the evening. Olivia Palacios contributed the negligible choreography. The basic physical production was by Mark Marcante (sets), Alexander Barenieff (lights) and Lytza Colon (costumes).
Who Murdered Love? plays through February 19, 2023 at Theater for the New City, 155 First Avenue, NYC. Tickets can be purchased at the theater’s box office or at www.theaterforthenewcity.net.
