In playwright and actor Ken Ferrigni's reality, when 30-something men need to bond and get over traumatic life events, they do a whole lot of blow. At least that's what Angel (Aaron Kliner) decides when Buddy's (Ferrigni) girlfriend leaves him. Once the two start to binge on a massive mound of cocaine, they become revelatory, and the play really takes off.
Buddy tells his breakup story, and it's re-enacted on half the stage with Deanna Gibson playing the abusive girlfriend. Angel hallucinates his father (Phil Wilcox), who criticizes him for wasting his life.
Both Ferrigni and Kliner are excellent as co-dependent friends, thankfully not making the drugs seem gratuitous or sleazy but commonplace; however, it's Wilcox's wry looks and Gibson's boundless energy that make the show an unusually satisfying manifesto on arrested development. And the Wilcox-Gibson singing duo is the best replacement for an intermission one could ask for.
Presented by No Hope Productions as part of the New York International Fringe Festival
at the Gene Frankel Theatre, 24 Bond St., NYC.
Aug. 15-25. Remaining performances: Sat., Aug. 18, 2:30 p.m.; Sun., Aug. 19, 9 p.m.; Sat., Aug. 25, 9 p.m.
(212) 279-4488 or (888) 374-6436 or www.fringenyc.org.