These times have produced huge volumes of political satire, much of it quite bad, which is why the good stuff gleams all the brighter. Put Trap Door Theatre's production of Julien Nitzberg and Roger Neill's "The Beastly Bombing," a Gilbert-and-Sullivan-style comic operetta about terrorism, in the gleaming pile.
The plot involves two Islamic fundamentalists and two Neo-Nazi militia members separately plotting to blow up the Brooklyn Bridge, at first fighting, then discovering they have more in common than they thought, with the older members of the duos bonding over their mutual hatreds and the younger members over the fact that they ultimately care more about art, architecture and girls than terrorism. Song titles such as "A Lovely Little Bomb" and "The Song of the Sensitive White Supremacist" give one an idea of the show's tone, which, is every bit as intelligent as it is outrageous.
Every single actor in the cast shows greatness, but the extraordinary Stephen Lydic stands out with his portrayal of Preisident Dodgeson, possibly one of the best George W. Bush analogues ever created. Instead of traveling the broad, tired "dumb cowboy" route, Lydic plays the Commander in Chief as a vainglorious sociopath driven entirely by Id.
The show has been called "an equal opportunity offender," a somewhat shallow compliment as it implies there is something contradictory about loathing the fanatics of every faction, which this play clearly does. For those who might feel its silliness trivializes the deadly seriousness of the issue, give it a chance, because it packs a dark punch by the end and has significant truths to tell.
Reviewed by Centerstage!
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