Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice

Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice is playing at then Signature Theatre located at 480 West 42ns Street. It runs one hour forty-five minutes with no intermission. The play closes on March 22, 2020.

The story is based on the 1969 film by Paul Mazursky and Larry Tucker.

Derek McLane is the costume designer. He won a Tony Award for 33 Variations (2009) and was nominated for three Tony Awards for Anything Goes (2011), Ragtime (2010) and Pajama Game (2006).

Amanda Green wrote the lyrics. She was nominated for a Tony Award in 2013 for Hands on a Hard Body.

Jennifer Damiana was nominated for a Tony Award for Next to Normal (2009).

The time is 1969.

Carol (Jennifer Damiano) and Bob (Joel Perez) are on their way to a resort. She turns on the radio in the car. The bandleader (Suzanne Vega) makes an announcement and then plays a song (she sings the song). When they get to the resort, they take classes to find the inner person in them.

They seem to be a happy couple and have a five-year-old son.

Bob goes away on business. While there he has sex with a 24-year-old. When he comes home, he tells Caro what he did. She was okay with it since it was only sex. Bob goes away again and was going to have a fling but decides not to. He come home early to find Carol has a lover in their bedroom. Bob is a little upset about but is cool with it.

They tell their friends Ted (Michael Zegen) and his wife Alice (Ana Nogueira) about their cheating. Both are upset about it. They would never do it. Ted gets restless and when he is away, he has sex with a stranger. When he comes home, he tells Alice. She gets upset and goes to therapy.

The couples go to Vegas to see Tony Bennett.

They are in bed together and were going to have sex with the different partner but it doesn’t work out. But they still see Tony Bennett.

The is not your normal set. There are color beads hanging as a curtain on the whole stage. Cast members go thru the beads to change their clothes. The band leader is front of it and on either side of her are two people with instruments. In the middle of the stage is a couch and two ottomans which at times becomes a bed. There are small round tables on the sides and props are brought out from time to time.

I felt the flow of the show was over whelming. The characters were all over the place sometimes as if they were performing at a show.

I did like the inter action with the audience in the first row. They would have them come on the stage and be part of the characters in that particular scene. In the last scene Alice has some come on to dance with it her. The person she asked was Jonathan Burke who is off Monday from the play The Inheritance.

The cast was outstanding. Suzanne Vega is not only the band leader and singer but she is different character in different scenes.

I don’t think this is a musical for everyone. If you want something different this is it.

Review by Rozanna Radakovich.

Photos by Annazor.

To read a candid interview with the cast, scroll down to the left for photos. Click on photos for this and other shows.