High Whimsy and Low Expectations at the Meat Market Early-’60s Absurdism in ‘Red Eye of Love’
Ben BrantleySeptember 5, 2014: Perhaps you have sometimes wondered, when you’ve run out of worthier things to think about, what that airiest of musicals, The Fantasticks, might be like if it developed a social conscience. O.K., so you haven’t. Neither had I until recently. But now that I’ve planted the idea in your head, should you improbably find yourself aching to act upon it, you might consider heading for the Dicapo Theater on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. That, I’m afraid, is about all I can offer as incentive to see Red Eye of Love, which opened on Thursday night in an Amas Musical Theater production. And how sincerely I wish I could be more enthusiastic! This long-gestating musical, based on a 1961 play by Arnold Weinstein, has clearly been a labor of fanatical devotion for those involved in it. That includes the 86-year-old John Wulp, who won an Obie Award for directing the original play and is the co-writer (with Weinstein, who died in 2005) of the book and lyrics for this version.
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