COLUMBUS, Ohio—The Performers, a “romantic porn star comedy” set against the backdrop of the annual AVN Awards that saw its debut in a short-lived Broadway run in 2012, returned the stage this week in a new regional production in the heart of Middle America: Columbus, Ohio. Theater buffs with long memories may recall that the original production of the play opened on November 14 of 2012 at the 1,000-seat Longacre Theatre in New York City, with none other than Henry “The Fonz” Winkler headlining the cast, in the role of aging porn performer “Chuck Wood.”
Thanks in part to an economic downturn caused by Hurricane Sandy, 2012 was a difficult season for Broadway productions. The Performers brought down its final curtain after just six official performances in five days, a disappointing end even in that disappointing season—a season in which Scandalous, a musical written by Kathie Lee Gifford, closed after 29 regular performances, and a big-budget production based on the life of Charlie Chaplin ran only 136.
Now theatergoers in Ohio get another chance to see what may be the only Broadway musical about porn, in a regional production at the Short North Stage in Columbus, a production which, though it lacks a “name” star like Winkler, has nonetheless been well received by local critics.
While the Dispatch.com complained that The Performers came up flaccid in the laugh department, the local cast earned some plaudits from the reviewer.
“Slick staging, fast pacing, energetic performances and a glitzy design aren’t enough to turn a Broadway flop into a truly funny hit in Columbus,” the paper;’s review said. “Every laugh was earned by the actors—so, clearly, the flaws in the show aren’t the performers’ fault.”
The local news site Columbus Underground took a sunnier view of the production, however, calling the new run of The Performers “a burst of zany fun.”
“The Performers is electric, flirty fun that moves like a cartoon. In a season of gray slush, long shadows, and biting wind, this could be just what we need,” the site’s review declared.
So what is The Performers actually about? Penned by first-time playwright David Read West during his years as a student at New York’s prestigious Juilliard School, the plot revolves around a midwestern couple on the eve of a Las Vegas wedding who come to the AVN Awards because the groom-to-be is a journalist who wants to interview his childhood friend—who grew up to be a porn actor named “Mandrew.”
While he was writing what became the Broadway version of the play, West attended the 2012 AVN Awards show in Las Vegas, but he admitted in a New York Times article that his interviews with several porn performers at the show didn’t affect the content of his play.
“Very little of what I learned from them has found its way into the play, which remains, like most romantic comedies, a work of fantasy,” he wrote. “Still, it is rare for a playwright to dream up a world and then have the opportunity to experience it.”
