Sometimes the experience of being with
an audience that is largely half your age and that knows not only more than you
do about what we are about to see but knows every line and situation as if it
was “Casablanca” can be amusing as well as eye-opening. Such was the case with
me and my companion at the press preview of “Cruel Intentions,” a stage adaptation by co-creators
Jordon Ross and Lindsey Rosin of the cult 1999 film that is now entertaining
its fans at (le) Poisson Rouge, a nightclub in Greenwich Village.
The experience, most of it really good and definitely
exhilarating, began even as we approached the club on Bleecker Street a good half
hour before curtain time to see a long line stretched down the street waiting
for the doors open. Many of the seats inside are on a first come-first served
basis, others can be reserved. The word was evidently out before the reviews
that this production (after its debut in L.A. in 2015 and a remounting in 2016)
was rekindling the same vibes that made
it a hit film and an unexpected phenomenon with young audiences almost a
generation ago. We shared a table with two fans who knew every word, song and
scene like we knew “Casablanca.”
.
Although the film was inspired by the classic 1782 French
novel “Les Liaisons Dangereuses” (itself the source for a number of both film
and stage adaptations), it tapped into the pop culture of teens at the time and
catapulted the career of a young Reese Witherspoon. What it also did was to
make its story about sex, seduction, deception and cruelty relevant to a young
audience by setting it in the present time and in and around an upper East Side
prep school.
The plot about two diabolical step siblings who set out to
deflower and defame schoolmates hit a chord. Speaking of chord, the film was
filled with pop and rock hits of the time...a perfect segue for the stage adaptation
which has added more pop tunes of the time as well as including those already on
the film’s soundtrack to further engine the characters and narrative. Here are
a few: “Lovefool,” “Just a Girl,” Only Happy When It Rains,” and “Bittersweet
Symphony.” It you get it, you got it.
Not that you could hear most of the
lyrics from the cheering of recognition from a packed room (including standees)
of each iconic song (don’t ask) and each sexy situation. More importantly,
director Lindsey Rosin and choreographer Jennifer Weber put their talented
company through their paces in a show that moves with the fury of a hurricane. More
a concert staging than a fully conceptualized show, “Cruel Intentions,” nevertheless, is performed with a terrific
band on a small stage that gets plenty of action, often spilling out into the
audience.
While shadow hanky-panky and discreet nudity are cleverly displayed,
the trendy couture designs also reveal plenty about the characters. Among the
many standout performers who revel with expressive abandon in the sex-capades are
a seductive Lauren Zakrin as the conniving Kathryn and the hard body Constantine
Rousouli, as the licentious, hard-hearted Sebastian. Good voices, great bodies
and amusingly insinuating performances are factors that make “Cruel Intentions” an entertaining variation on those liaisons
of lore.
“Cruel Intentions” (through February 19)
Tickets: General Admission: $59 for standing room, $79 for
table seating and $109 for reserved seating.
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