A world premiere is like a blind date, so one attends with a certain amount of trepidation.
Well, I saw "Cockeyed" over the weekend, and while I’m not ready to set a wedding date, I’d certainly like to see her again. She’s funny, and imaginative, and bright, and doesn’t act like a philosophy major. I don’t know if she can cook, or if she makes her own clothes.
There’s good acting and direction, too, in the premiere presentation by the Hot City Theatre at the Kranzberg Center, where it will run through May 30.
William Missouri Downs’s play is mostly delightful, though he tends to use a couple of devices a few times too many. But the concept of a philosophy major looking for love is appealing, and the idea of someone who is as familiar as furniture becoming a chair (on a philosophical level, of course) has good legs, in a manner of speaking, or maybe in two manners.
Adam Flores is splendid as Phil, forced by the exigencies of the job market to shelve his philosophy degree and work in an accounting department. He has the right mix of haplessness and enthusiasm, and his love for Sophia is the sort of flame he would be enveloped in if he were an average college freshman and not a philosophy major. Jennifer Nitrzband is good in the role, though there are moments when she could show more emotion, like letting slip a rude exclamation when she spills something in the office coffee room or when Tyler Vickers treats her as if they were in obedience school together.
Tyler Vickers is Marley, her boss and handsome, well-tailored boyfriend; he looks and acts like someone named Marley, and while he is not a ghost, he’s just right in the role. Paul Pagano is Norman, Paul’s friend and superior, and his function as friend and superior is as plain as the nose on his face. He does it very well, however, and every comedy needs a second banana.
Marty Stanberry directs smoothly, with the right mixture of verbal comedy and slapstick, and Alex Gaines’s set works satisfactorily in the limited Kranzberg space. It’s a new play, and it’s far from perfect, but it provides splendid entertainment and enough laughs.
At the Kranzberg Center, through May 30
-Joe