Cry-Baby
Description
The central conflict (if you will) in this mostly mediocre Broadway adaptation of the 1990 John Waters flick is between the straight-arrow Squares and the greasy, lawbreaking Drapes. These teen camps represent opposing forces of upper-class conformity and lower-class raffishness in 1954 Baltimore. And wouldn’t you know it: This multimillion-dollar spectacle dresses and sneers like a leather-jacketed outcast, but turns out to be as tedious as a country-club preppy. James Snyder makes for an exceedingly bland lead; the rockabilly pastiche score is generic and dull, despite genuinely clever lyrics; and a middling cast is outshone by Rob Ashford’s sexy, muscular choreography. Every time the toothsome ensemble breaks into dance, you’ll weep with gratitude.—DC
