Theater: Acorn Theatre / 410 West 42nd Street, New York, NY, 10036
Synopsis:
Sexy... sultry... repressive - Hollywood 1953, an underground nightclub where everyone's got a secret. At Mary's Hideaway, it was a place for sizzling jazz and for the ambitious people who are finding the courage to be who they are. It is the noir time of the '50s, and the laws governing gay and lesbian clubs, produced every glance that had a double meaning and the words that were innuendo. Here everything had to be done to the strict code. These are some of the people who had the guts to break the rules.
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September 19, 2011: The opening scenes of “Play It Cool,” a new musical about a gay jazz club in 1950s Hollywood, promise mystery, scandal, provocation, eroticism and moral outrage. Unfortunately, the show is so busy bragging about its potential for these enticements that it fails to deliver on any of them.
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September 15, 2011: To its credit, Play It Cool, now at the Acorn Theatre, often works wonders musically. It boasts an infectious jazz-tinged score, with lyrics by Mark Winkler set to the music of Philip Swann (and a few other composers), sung by a stellar five-person cast led by the sensational Sally Mayes.
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September 15, 2011: There is a subset of Off Broadway musicals that feature five or so folks in a bar who sing of love and loss for a couple of hours before everyone goes home unhappy. The characters, that is, although the malaise all too frequently extends to the audience. The producers of "Play It Cool," at the Acorn, at least have an ace in the hole: Sally Mayes, who grabs our attention every time they give her a song about jazz, love, or the thrill of wearing men's suits, and thereby prevents the evening (and one suspects half the audience) from wisping away.
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September 14, 2011: Sally Mayes knows her way around a jazz tune, and in "Play It Cool" she has the opportunity to serve up songs that are both hot and cool while also getting to demonstrate her skill as a scat artist.
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September 18, 2011: Where there’s smoke, there is not always fire. For evidence of this, you need look no further than the new production of Play it Cool that just opened at the Acorn Theatre.
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