Word: oed
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...plot was nothing unusual for a Pudding show, where original thought usually takes a back seat to tradition and G-strings. Superspy Carson O'Genick (played by Phil Murphy) is sent on an assignment from the British Intelligence with his one-time lover Natalie Dreste (David Merrill) to explain the link between the discovery of large amounts of opium in the Near East and the desire of the Society for the Prevention of Anglo-Saxon Morality (SPAM) to destroy the British Empire...
Along the way to Constantinople they find that Burton deBusch (James Hanes) is the mastermind behind SPAM's plot to fill the snuff boxes of the British with opium and blow away their entire navy. In the end, thanks to the efforts of O'Genick's fellow travelers, Spasm the Butler (Rich O'Leary) and Ella Mental (Doug Fitch), the scheme is thwarted. (Leavitt and Peirce's sales have dropped sharply since the show opened...
...what of the players? Can't have a ballgame without players, and there are many who rode into the winner's circle. Murphy comes through as O'Genick, but better direction would have tightened his wavering Steve Martin-Goes-to-Southie character. Fitch's job on Ella Mental, the nonagenarian nympho, is outstanding. Jim O'Brien, who plays the second female lead as Melissa Forethought, a whorish double agent who gets it from both sides, turns in an admirable performance, especially on the raunchy number, "Coo and Bill Me Later." O'Brien's act is marred only by the fact...
Hanes as Burton deBusch and O'Leary as Spasm are memorable in their roles. The latter, who portrays a classic professor-turned-butler, makes the most of his few lines and shows the difference between creating a character and just playing a part. You just can't take your eyes off O'Leary from the time when he steals the song "Domestic Blisters," to the end when he is fittingly left alone on stage...
...What O'Leary achieves with actions, super-freshman Hanes does with words. Not only does he have the egocentric villain character nailed ("Natalie, I believe I've found myself overqualified for life as we know it."), but the kid knows how to play off the audience like the great comic actors. Hanes is raw material, and when he goes into the Elvis-takeoff tune "Stud" (my favorite song in the show, complete with background choreograpy in the finest Motown tradition), you'll know he doesn't spend his Saturday nights watching "Mannix...