Photo Source: Andrew Bisdale
Bachelor James has just broken up with his longtime girlfriend and wants to play the field. His buddy Mike, a commitment-phobic hound who has seduced all the players on the teenage girls' basketball he coaches, convinces James to sleep with all his old amours. It's mildly funny for about five minutes, and the rest of the show is as crude as its title.
The three-person cast attempts to inject some depth into their two-dimensional characters. Jon Bass has a modicum of charm as James and does his best to avoid making this schlubby loser a total turnoff. Similarly, Brendan McCarthy shows us Mike's vulnerability underneath the macho swagger.
Carolyn Gilliam has the unfortunate task of playing all of James' former flames; each one is written as a punch line rather than a person. Thompson has been given the most tired stereotypes to enact, from a whip-wielding S&M mistress to a lame-brained spiritualist. She gets a few laughs, but her performance is mostly comedy-sketch shtick, which is probably all Thompson or director Paul Leopold required of her.
Leopold does give the scenes between James and Mike a faint spark of verisimilitude: It really does seem as if they are two young guys hanging out together, but that spark is quickly overwhelmed by desperate attempts at getting guffaws. He's also made some odd choices.
For some reason, Leopold has the backstage crew throw pink women's clothes onto the set in between scenes. What is this is meant to convey is unclear—maybe to show that James' ex-girlfriends are depositing all their emotional baggage with him? The result is just a mess, much like the play itself.
Presented by Frigid New York at the Kraine Theatre, 85 E. Fourth St., NYC. Feb. 23–March. 6. Remaining performances: Sat., Feb. 26, 4 p.m.; Wed., March 2, 7:30 p.m.; Sat., March 5, 1 p.m.; Sun., March 6, 5:30 p.m. (212) 868-4444 or www.smarttix.com.