Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe NEW YORK, Nov. 23 (UPI) -- "Wonder of the World," a new play by the promising young playwright David Lindsay-Abaire, is an aimless satirical comedy that has few redeeming entertainment values other than a sparkling performance by Sarah Jessica Parker, star of HBO TV's "Sex and the City." It is Parker's first stage appearance since she portrayed a dog in A.R. Gurney's delightful comedy, "Sylvia," in 1995. Now she is in a dog of a play. Advertisement The Manhattan Theater Club's production at City Center Stage 1 is named for Niagara Falls, one of the seven wonders of the natural world, and has all the sound and fury associated with that gargantuan cataract but none of its impact. It looks like Lindsay-Abaire, whose "Fuddy Meers" was a sleeper hit for the club two seasons ago, will have to try again, this time with more consideration for his audience's capacity for nonsense. Advertisement The 31-year-old writer, who studied playwriting with Christopher Durang at the Juilliard School, has an affinity for wacky humor that is taken to the extreme in this play about a young woman, Cass (Parker), who strikes out on her own after seven years of a sheltered, sexless marriage to a boringly sincere husband, Kip (Alan Tudyk). The last straw for her is the discovery that Kip gets perverse sexual pleasure from eating the decapitated head of Barbie dolls, which he keeps in his sox drawer in their Brooklyn apartment. She packs her bags and leaves by bus for Niagara Falls with a list of 267 things to do that she has always wanted to do -- visit a prison and witness an execution, eat venison, wear a wig, etc. On the bus she meets a suicidal alcoholic, Lois (Kristine Nielsen), who is lugging the barrel in which she intends to go over the falls. They team up, check into a Niagara Motel, and embark on a series of sightseeing adventures that include a ride on "The Maid of the Mist," the tourist boat that plies the river below the falls. Cass immediately falls for the boat's salty Captain Mike (Kevin Chamberlin) and they become engaged. Advertisement The plot, or what passes for such, thickens with the arrival of a weird couple, Karla (Marylouise Burke) and Glen (Bill Raymond), who are detectives hired by Kip to keep check on Cass, and finally the arrival of a remorseful Kip himself who disapproves of his wife's friendship with the tipsy Lois. All agree to a group psychiatry session in the form of a quiz show with a counselor dressed in clown drag (Amy Sedaris). It ends in accidental gunfire. With Captain Mike hors de combat and Kip, Karla and Glen on the run, Cass and Lois find themselves in the barrel, stuck on a rock at the brink of the falls. The following dialogue, which displays the playwright's penchant for non-sequitur, concludes the play: -- Cass: When does clarity come? Lois: Do you see that? Cass: The sun? Lois: Yes. It came up. And you're breathing. What else do you want? Cass: Some breakfast would be nice. -- So much for meaning in a play best summed up by Kip when he tells Karla, "Nothing you say is registering! Nothing!" That is not to say there isn't some enjoyable acting on the part of a cast of real pros. Advertisement Parker, a former child star, makes the most of her role as a girl-woman who delivers her lines with Shirley Temple innocence, enthusiasm, and charm. Tudyk as the tearful Kip occasionally can be quite sympathetic. As Lois, Nielsen gives a truly resourceful performance, both loony and wise. And Burke and Raymond are never less than a hoot as the odd couple who know the secret of who killed whom with a giant jar of peanut butter. However, Lindsay-Abaire has created caricatures, not characters. The only member of the cast to achieve a fully rounded personality is Chamberlin as Captain Mike. He is at all times sweet, focused, and able to project with facial expression and vocal nuance a complexity of character that is denied his fellow actors or perhaps beyond their grasp with the material given them. ManhattanTheater Club has given the work a really beautiful production with sliding sets and set cut-outs by designer David Gallo that reveal full-stage or small stage spaces suited to the many scenes. One of he cleverest is a juxtaposition of three ethnic theme restaurants that provide Lindsay-Abaire with the opportunity for racial stereotyping that seems bizarre in this era of political correctness. Advertisement Christopher Ashley has directed the show with the sure hand he exhibited in directing the current Broadway revival of "The Rocky Horror Show." So what's next for Lindsay-Abaire? He is currently finishing a film adaptation of "Fuddy Meers" and will soon begin work developing a television show with Conan O'Brien's production company as part of a two-picture deal with Miramax Films. His play, "Kimberly Akimbo," which was premiered at the South Coast Rep company last April has just received the 2001 Kesselring Prize for best new play. "Wonder of the World" first was produced at the Woolly Mammoth Theater in Washington last season and was nominated for a Helen Hayes award.
