There’s a comfortable ease that permeates “All In,” by which a rotating solid of celebs narrates, with each flourish and offhandedness, the humorous and offbeat essays of The New Yorker author Simon Wealthy.
It’s the form of comedian consolation that simply suits into the vacation interval but in addition right into a Broadway season that’s particularly welcoming to laughter.
However “All In” brings a special form of comedy to the stage, a gentler form of wit, packaged at a modest size and in a minimalist kind, although elegantly staged by Alex Timbers and designed by a theatrical A-team: David Korins (units), Jake DeGroot (lights), Peter Hylenski (sound), and Jennifer Moeller (costumes), amongst them. Lucy Mackinnon supplies the video design that includes Emily Flake’s whimsical drawings.
Consider all of it as a hipster “Love Letters” in a loft setting: quirky, absurdist, typically impolite however by no means crude (properly, perhaps the humping canine bit). Or maybe Garrison Keiller on psychedelics.
The eight tales embody such fanciful characters and views as a hard-of-hearing genie, parental pirates, canine on the make and even the Elephant Man, ostensibly linked by characters discovering surprising connections. However greater than that it’s about dedication, and being “all in” in any variety of amusing and awkward methods, with only a wisp of sentiment. Some match properly into this theme whereas just a few really feel a bit shoehorned in.
The present’s restricted Broadway run begins its first weeks with a strong quartet of high-profile narrators: Wealthy’s comedy bro John Maloney leads off the present that additionally consists of Richard Type, Fred Armisen and Renée Elise Goldsberry. They’re seated (however not all the time) in comfortable armchairs and are studying (however not all the time) off of outsized books which include the humorous essays by Wealthy, who has additionally written for “Saturday Evening Stay,” “The Simpsons” and Pixar movies. (Of notice to theater wags: He’s additionally the son of former New York Instances critic Frank Wealthy.)
Nestled between the tales, in addition to underscoring them, are the love songs and music by Stephin Merritt of Magnetic Fields. They’re sung by indie folk-rockers Abigail and Shaun Bengson, whose “Hundred Days” musical memoir was an Off Broadway deal with in 2017. Abigail’s sterling voice particularly resonates with Merritt’s wealthy melodies and wry lyrics, and kicks off the present with the appropriately named “Absolute Cuckoo.”
However the loopiness begins off a bit awkwardly with Maloney narrating in his trademark smoothie model, sans script and standing, a yarn a couple of genie, a bartender and his 12-inch pianist, a form of shaggy canine story that glides right into a too-soft touchdown. Maloney finds his groove in subsequent, sharper tales, along with his finest flip delivering with Sam Spade snap the story of the toddler detective on the case of a lacking plush toy owned by Child Zoe from the white bassinet down the corridor (Goldsberry).
Type demonstrates his emphatic comedian vary each vocally and bodily — even getting laughs from variations of chair slouching — as a jealous physician whose spouse bonds with the Elephant Man.
Armisen voices a lot of droll characters and is hilariously — and fittingly — deadpan because the determine of Dying who turns into seduced by present biz through a intelligent agent (Type).
Regardless of the wild characters and imaginative leaps, the humor is laidback, nice, and easy, extra prone to elicit heat smiles than thigh-slappers. It’s at its most reflective within the ultimate piece.
Set in 2074, the story has Wealthy’s imagined great-granddaughter interviewing him for a college paper the place they now dwell on “New Earth” (local weather change, you understand). When she asks him about his favourite reminiscence, he recounts, as an alternative of tales from World Battle IV, the story of his courtship and lengthy marriage along with his spouse, involving relationship rituals, intercourse robots and “Arrested Growth.” Goldsberry is each humorous, guileless, and pricey, and ends the present with a form of mild wave, a delicate gesture for what seems to be an excellent night time.
