Word: durang
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Although Media Amok's concept is an intriguing one, Durang fails to develop it into more than that. Thin writing and uninspired humor, uncharacteristic of Durang's usual sharp-wittedness, leave us only with the television gimmick, and it is simply not enough to sustain an entire evening in the theater...
...Durang aims to devour them all, and a sumptuous feast it should be. However, his character assassinations go too often for the obvious, never really piercing the level of sophomoric, imitative humor one might find in an amateur parody...
Morton Hell curses. Forty "fucks" in the first five minutes of his appearance. Fine. But that is all he does. Durang makes little attempt at any satire more insightful than this. Of all Morton's lines the one which the audience seems to find most amusing is his holler at a reticent nun, "Get off my show you fucking, fuck face penguin...
Even when Durang does come through with a witty line, he buries it in script which takes the joke too far and detracts from its effectiveness. "Sorry, I don't mean to act like I have an opinion," says a momentarily sincere Felicia Falana to her TV audience. Funny, really funny. But when she goes on and on, asserting, among other things that she "agrees with everyone," the line just loses it humor. By stating the obvious in what seems like a deliberate over-kill of the lines, Durang weakens some of his best satire...
...Durang and director Les Waters do manage to create an intolerably grating atmosphere through the use of screeching sirens, loud music, and strobe lights. However, blasting loud music and shouting curses does not a clever satire make. And unfortunately for Water's concept, this pandemonium makes the evening a little too unpleasent for an audience which, after all, has chosen to go to the theater rather than watch...