Spies Are Forever

Reviewed by Neal Weaver
Noho Arts Center
Through April 3 

This slick little musical is a spoof of the James Bond movies, with emphasis on their snazzy-jazzy opening credits. The book is by Tin Can Brothers, a team made up of director Corey Lubowich and ensemble members Joey Richter and Brian Rosenthal, with a score by Clark Baxstresser and Pierce Siebers. The show focuses on the usual Bond ingredients: spy vs. spy plotlines, betrayals and shifting loyalties, ingenious weaponry and gimmicks, flamboyant villains (Baron von Nazi, played by co-author Rosenthal, and The Deadliest Man Alive, played by Joseph Walker), and scenes of sadistic torture.

But there are a few surprises. Though there are three women in the cast, they’re not voluptuous, sexually aggressive Bond girls. And perhaps that’s just as well since this Bond character, Curt Mega (played appropriately enough by actor Curt Mega), is no ladies’ man. In fact he seems to be gay. (There are no Bond boys either, though that might have been a source for comedy.) Mega is also supplied with a mother (Lauren Lopez), a would-be matchmaker who’s distressed and perplexed by the fact that he never brings home any nice girls.

As the action gets underway, Mega is in the midst of a mission with his partner/lover Owen (writer Joey Richter). In a frantic shoot-out, Owen is seemingly killed, and Mega must leave him bleeding on the floor. Guilt and grief over Owen’s demise sink Mega into a four-year alcoholic funk, from which he’s determined to make a come-back. He soon discovers, however, that he has lost his edge and become a bit of a bungler.

Mega’s attempt to regain his mojo takes him from Budapest to Russia to the New Republics of Old Socialist Prussian Sloviskia, where he tries to save the life of the reigning Prince Feurgin. He also meets up with Russian agent Tatiana Slozhno (Mary Kate Wiles), who alternately betrays and rescues him. And he must try to foil a fiendish secret operation called Chimera, which seeks to create an international data-base that would turn everyone in the world into a spy, spying on everybody else.

The piece is sometimes funny, but much of the humor is broad, obvious, and derivative. It’s partly rescued by an energetic ensemble —  most of them playing two or more characters — and stylish performances from Rosenthal and Walker, among others. The songs, with a few exceptions, are more serviceable than memorable. The Baron’s big number, “Nazis are not so bad,” with its blonde, thigh-slapping Bavarian chorus, is amusing but a little too reminiscent of “Springtime For Hitler.”

Lubowich’s direction is vigorous, verging on frantic, and there are nice performances by Tessa Netting as a government operative with a crush on Mega, Lopez as Mega’s high-handed boss, and Al Falick in a wide array of roles. Mega is vocally strong, but as an actor he’s a bit phlegmatic. The choreography by Lopez is lively and eclectic, borrowing from children’s games, Bond main titles and generalized Hollywood exotica.

If you’re going to write a spoof, you’d better be at least as clever as the thing you’re spoofing, and this outing doesn’t quite rise to that level.

Noho Arts Center, 11136 Magnolia Blvd., NoHo; Fri., 8 p.m.; Sat., 3 & 8 p.m.; Sun., 3 p.m.; through April 3. (800) 838-3006 or https://spiesareforever.diamonds. Running time: Two hours and 25 minutes, with one 10 minute intermission.