Application Pending
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Cititour.com Review
Over 15 million people have seen the YouTube videos of the supremely gifted Christina Bianco, where she has imitated dozens of singers ranging from Idina Menzel to Ariana Grande. But the panoply of voices that emanate from her mouth in Greg Edwards and Andy Samberg’s slight multi-character solo piece, “Application Pending,” now at the Westside Theatre Downstairs, only rarely sing. They do, however, shriek, shout, threaten, and cajole. None of that, however, should be surprising given that the 75-minute piece, ably directed by Samberg, concerns the shockingly competitive world of Manhattan prep schools.
Bianco’s main personage is Christine Evans, a sweet-natured single mom and kindergarten teaching assistant, who has been suddenly (and completely improbably) promoted to pre-primary admissions director on the most important day of the year for tony Edgely Prep – the day all applications are due, and the evening of the parents’ banquet (an event Christine, for some reason, knows nothing about).
During her first hectic hours in this high-pressured position, Christine must deal with everyone from frantic parents such as pushy Jewish mother Shoshana Feigenbaum (mother of local theater wunderkind Christian Olivier) and snotty socialite Pamela Upton Drinkwater; Edgely’s surly headmaster Larry Bradshaw, obnoxious finance director Takala Matata, and slutty teacher Jennica; militant PETA protestor Pat Hyman; and vicious rival admissions director Vera Vandercooche, to name a few.
While a handful of these exchanges are laugh-out-loud funny, and a few others are quite clever, many are barely sophomoric, and a few seem to be on the kindergarten “isn’t the fact I’m using a dirty word so funny” level. Some of the best gags involve the prior activities of Christine’s predecessor, Debbie Davis, but like everything else here, Edwards and Samberg run that bit into the ground before the final bow.
Still, as those who know Bianco -- from either YouTube or her stage appearances in “Forbidden Broadway” and “Newsical” -- can already attest, she is a remarkably adept mimic whose ability to change her voice completely within seconds is a marvel to behold. (Admittedly, most of the men portrayed here – whether straight or gay – tend to sound a bit too female.) Furthermore, Bianco not only commits to completley differentiating each of the characters she’s been asked to play, but embraces even the most ridiculous aspects of this script with welcome sincerity.
I suspect that, unlike the smartest prep schools in Gotham, everyone should be able to get into “Application Pending”. And if you can’t, you shouldn’t be too disappointed if you are somehow denied admission.
By Brian Scott Lipton
Visit the Site
http://applicationpendingplay.com
Cast
Christina Bianco
Open/Close Dates
Opening 2/10/2015
Closing 4/19/2015
Preview Open/ Preview Close Dates
Preview Opening 1/26/2015
Closing Open-ended
Box Office
212-239-6200
Theatre Info
Westside Theatre
407 West 43rd Street
New York, NY 10036
Map
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