Theater Online - New York Theater Reviews

It is through the sheer talent and conviction of the impressive cast that Bite succeeds. Succeed it does at being a wonderfully entertaining evening.

I must confess the difficulty in summarizing a show that beings in a dental waiting room and ends in the lobby of "Purgatory" a professional Dom and Sub enterprise.

We meet Annabelle Lee Priscilla Mae Ramsey III (Jennifer Gill) in the throes of pain that will require three root canal crown procedures and grad student Amy Overman (Millicent Roberts) who has a slight sugar problem.

They are held at bay and ordered about by the receptionist Natalie (Billed both as Theresa Goehring and Theresa Unfried) who runs the dental office according to her rules. Her strict governing of her domain foreshadows much of what will happen in the second act.

All three actresses give wonderfully comic performances completely living and believing in their characters throughout.

Enter Dental partner Dr. Oliver Greenmeadow (Robert Brown) as a hapless wishy-washy dentist who lives with his mother and has trouble deciding what actions to take in life. His gimmick is in speaking directly to the audience and allowing us to vote for some of the decisions he makes. The gimmick while fun, really does not impact the action because the choices are so obvious, either we as an audience create conflict and allow the play to proceed or we stop the action with the boring choice. We never make the boring choice. They could continue the interaction with the audience and drop the voting masks without any detriment to the show.

As Dr. Greenmeadow bemoans an expensive new flyer his practice can scarce afford we meet his partner Dr. Bruce (Justin Plowman), a smarmy self-centered womanizing cad that we just love to hate.

Just to throw some fun into the mix, we have the germ phobic and off his meds Parker Lyman (Jason Unfried) show up with the demand for daily cleanings further intimidating poor Dr. Greenmeadow.

At lunch Dr. Greenmeadow follows his detestable partner to Purgatory in order to find out how he spends his time. There he encounters his poor patients dominating men in order to make the funds necessary for continued dental care. He also finds a receptionist who is a "dead ringer" for his own. In a black wig - resembling Patti Lupone -Mistress Corbeaux is a fantastic ringmaster to the second act antics. Parker is the cleaning boy looking to conquer his phobias by compulsively cleaning the floor and eating Tuna Fish Sandwiches.

You can just guess where things go at this point and that is the only problem with this show. One of my favorite Dysfunctional Theatre moments was in their production of "Real Live Sex On Stage" where they did a parody of performance art and every time I thought it could go no further, it did. When I thought "Oh no, they won't" they did. I was hysterical with laughter and also slightly on edge.

Although the performances are never a let down, the second act would be as comfortable in a television sitcom as it is on stage. This theatre and this cast are capable of more than that. If in fact they do rework this piece and bring it back they need to take it where we don't expect it to go. In the climactic scene we should be squirming "He is NOT going to put that is his mouth", instead we are simply laughing, knowing the he won't.

The laughter however is a good thing. This is reasonably prices theatre and absolutely worth both your time and funds when it comes to entertainment bang for the buck. The very talented performers work shopped, and contributed to the material shaped by Suzanne Bachner. I hope they continue to work and put a bit more bite into "Bite"