Reviewing in the Key of "CurtainUp"

In an effort to expand my horizons I submitted myself to CurtainUp.com as a freelance (and pro bono) reviewer. Which meant when I went to see Extinction (which I don't recommend), I had to review it in the style of CurtainUp. I like to think of it as writer's karaoke--and it's can be just as unpleasant!

For consideration: Joseph Samuel Wright's 2 cents on a show that's worth about as much.

"The things we do for money, huh?" In that line the author's voice speaks through the stock character Victoria—a small town girl trapped in a big city vice by financial desperation—and he sums up the message of his play without much subtly.

The Red Dog Squadron produced Extinction currently running at Cherry Lane Theatre is an exercise in the unsubtle. The play is SubUrbia twenty years later and in a hotel room with a bag of coke, prostitutes, and two tv stars playing best friends whom time has pulled apart. Flin and Max have spent twenty years partying and chasing women together, but now things are changing and both men's lives are catapulting them into adulthood and a realization of their own mortality.

Ironically, this script about struggling with maturity reads as juvenile. Extinction is filled by agons of philosophy, a forced escalation of tension, variable rates of time passage, an unsophisticated motif of financial need and obligation, and every tired stakes-heightening device available to keep the action moving forward.

Similarly the lighting was distractingly over-designed. It would rise and fall in level throughout scenes in what could be construed only as either an attempt to mirror the dynamic of the action or as a faulty dimmer. Halfway through the performance two side lights came up and reflected for the rest of their time on the wall of the set like a pair of headlights, although one is hesitant to assign such misplaced symbolism and rather attribute this flaw to a lack of communication between set and lighting designers.

Sets, however, were the redeeming element. The set was cool and sleek, well situated in the space, and featuring a great scrim mechanism that allowed the director to make beautiful pictures with dual scenes in two different rooms.

It's not that Extinction is bad or that one would regret seeing it (although it’s language and drug and sex content may be offensive to some audiences). The problem with Extinction is that it isn't particularly good. It's an assortment of pieces of other anxt-driven plays that is trying too hard to be meaningful. The time and effort producers invested in the script and the money you will shell out for a ticket can be better spent.

Extinction was written by Gabe McKinley and directed by Wayne Kasserman with lights by Mike Durst, set by Steven C. Kemp, and costumes by Gali Noy. The show features James Roday as Fin, Michael Weston as Max, Amanda Detmer as Misty, and Stefanie E. Frame as Victoria. Extinction is playing at the Cherry Lane Theatre at 38 Commerce Street through March 21st. It started performances on February 13 and opened on February 17, 2010. It was seen for review on Thursday, March 4, 2010. The show is approximately 100 minutes without an intermission and is performed Tuesdays at 7 and Wednesdays through Saturdays at 8 with a 3 PM matinee on Sundays. Tickets are $45 and can be purchased through Telecharge: 212-239-6200. For more information on the show or the company visit www.cherrylanetheatre.org.