Search - Jimmy Roberts, Joe DiPietro, Marc Kudisch :: The Thing About Men (2003 Original Off-Broadway Cast)

What makes writer Joe DiPietro stand out in the musical-theater landscape is that he leaves art to the likes of Michael John LaChiusa or Adam Guettel and focuses on the lives of the kind of young, professional husbands and wives you may actually know. Unfortunately he's not particularly witty and neither is his regular accomplice, composer Jimmy Roberts. After the Off-Broadway success of I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change, the pair adapted Doris Dörrie's movie Men for the stage in 2003. The result, as demonstrated on this cast album, is a fairly dull tale of relationships and male bonding. The leads (including Thoroughly Modern Millie's Marc Kudisch) are amiable enough, but Jennifer Simard particularly shines in a variety of supporting roles; she steals the show with "Highway of Your Heart," a country pastiche that should have been longer. Could we have a new Madeline Kahn on our hands? --Elisabeth Vincentelli