THE JOYS OF SEX
At the Variety Arts Theatre, 110 Third Avenue. Call Tele-charge (212) 239-6200.
‘WHY do men work out and sculpt their pecs? Why do we [women] wear heels and risk our necks?” ask the cast of “The Joys of Sex” – and promptly answer: “Sex! Sex! Sex! Sex! Sex! Sex!”
This is a fair sample of the limp wit on display in this show with lyrics by Melissa Levis, music by David Weinstein and book by both.
“The Joys of Sex” started life in the summer of 2002 at the Fringe Festival and has now been reborn at the Variety Arts.
The whole thing is as if Jackie Mason and Britney Spears collaborated on a show. Oy!
It involves four young New Yorkers looking to spice up their sex lives. Howard and Stephs are married but want to expand their horizons, and at the same time, want to have a baby.
Technogeek Brian is a horny single, as is gorgeous, sexy, available April, who moves in next door to Howard and Stephs and gets involved in a threesome with them and in a twosome with Brian. Don’t ask.
More distasteful still is the use of family. For example, Brian and his mother, Gladys, unknowingly court each other on the Internet.
Later, Brian’s mother and father, Gladys and Irving, go to an S&M sex club and, of course, wind up liking it.
Stephs’ granny imparts this tuneful, trite advice to her: “In the parlor be a lady; in the bedroom be a whore.”
This show, directed by Jeremy Dobrish, has the vulgarity but not the chutzpah or wit of old burlesque.
The best performer is David Josefsberg as Brian; his combination of shyness and energy almost make the character credible and likable.
Jenelle Lynn Randall, who plays April, has a lovely, strong voice but seems a bit stiff and uncomfortable amid the absurdities of the plot.
Stephanie Kurtzuba and Ron Bohmer perform capably as Stephs and Howard.
All four actors double as parents and grandparents and sex-club professionals.
Me, I’ll have a double on the rocks instead.