Tail! Spin! Lynn Redgrave Theatre (see Off Broadway). By Mario Correa. Directed by Dan Knechtges. With ensemble cast. Running time: 1hr 10mins. No intermission.
Tail! Spin!: In brief
Politicians on the hunt for strange bedfellows are the subjects of Mario Correa’s ribald documentary collage, drawn from years of lurid government sex scandals and remixed into an amusing theatrical blunder reel. Saturday Night Live alum Rachel Dratch headlines a cast that also features Sean Dugan, Arnie Burton, Nate Smith and Tom Galantich. Directed by Dan Knechtges.
Tail! Spin!: Theater review by Helen Shaw
Tail! Spin! assures us that every word of its content was spoken, Facebooked or tweeted by an actual person. The gag: Politicians Larry “Wide Stance” Craig, Anthony “Carlos Danger” Weiner, Mark “Appalachian Trail” Sanford and Mark “Page Cruising” Foley once said and did idiotic things. Remember? If you don’t, why not? Because these are very recent, much-mocked scandals.
Mario Correa’s verbatim show walks us through each debacle, providing comic turns for Sean Dugan (Craig), Nate Smith (Weiner) and Rachel Dratch, who plays women caught up in each mishegas. And I should first say the audience laughed hard. Just the name Sydney Leathers (readers of the future, do not look this up) got giggles. There are several funny bits, and Dratch is marvelously droll. In fact, I wish the rest of this Fringe transfer had taken her low-key, throwaway approach; director Dan Knechtges and the rest work too hard for the other laughs, hitting, for example, the word come with maximum emphasis. Finally, and despite their efforts, Tail! Spin! depressed me. If you're a lefty, you probably don't believe that corporations are people—but these men are. Sad, fucked-up, publicly humiliated people, in fact. LOL.—Theater review by Helen Shaw
THE BOTTOM LINE Pols have their sex scandals, but shame on us.