CurtainUp
CurtainUp
The Internet Theater Magazine of Reviews, Features, Annotated Listings
HOME PAGE

SITE GUIDE

SEARCH


REVIEWS

REVIEW ARCHIVES

ADVERTISING AT CURTAINUP

FEATURES

NEWS
Etcetera and
Short Term Listings


LISTINGS
Broadway
Off-Broadway

NYC Restaurants

BOOKS and CDs

OTHER PLACES
Berkshires
London
California
New Jersey
DC
Connecticut
Philadelphia
Elsewhere

QUOTES

TKTS

PLAYWRIGHTS' ALBUMS

LETTERS TO EDITOR

FILM

LINKS

MISCELLANEOUS
Free Updates
Masthead
A CurtainUp Review
Important Hats of the Twentieth Century

"I think you could do something remarkable, if you'd only stop trying to be so modern all the time. I mean look at this thing, it's like a potato sack. You can't treat a woman like a potato, Paul; she needs to feel beautiful. She wants to make an impression. "
— Designer Sam Greevy who is enjoying great success doing exactly what he advises his friend Paul Roms to do. But Paul disagrees: "I don't want to make the kind of clothes only celebrities can wear. I want to make practical clothes for regular people."
Important Hats
Carson Elrod and Matthew Saldivar (Photo Credit: Joan Marcus)
Remember Howard Roark, the visionary architect in Ayn Rand's 1943 novel The Fountainhead? Roark's stubbornly insisted on designing buildings that went against the popular taste. On the other hand, fellow architect Peter Keating opted to worship at the altar of what philosopher William James dubbed "the bitch goddess Success."

Playwright Nick Jones certainly seems to remember Rand's over-romanticized, best-selling paean to individuality. Paul Roms amd Sam Greevy, the central characters of Important Hats of the Twentieth Century, (the Vassar College originated Studio 42's first collaboration with Manhattan Theatre Club), are easily seen as Roark and Keating's counterparts in the fashion world.

Of course Jones is quite an individualist himself. His own career is a bit of a Roark-Keating mash-up. His quirky 2003 play Trevor was about a depressed chimpanzee played by a human. It wasn't geared to a mass audience, but Jones successfully courted mainstream success as a writer and producer of the Netflix series Orange Is the New Black.

Despite the rather obvious inspiration for Important Hats. . . it is ultimately 100% Nick Jones — his own satirical spin on the tale of two creative rivals. His setting is the fashion world of 1930s New York. Rather than a soapy, idealistic romance, what you get is a rambunctious farce with a generous dose of sci-fi weirdness. That weirdness, which threaten Greevy's "King of Dresses" standing, gives Roms' vision an uncanny futuristic twist. While we time travel only as far as 1997, Roms's comfortable everyman-woman clothes look exactly like what is still hot today and tagged with both mass market and high end designer labels.

Naturally Roms's "visionary" sweat shirts and track suits catch on. The hats of the title don't refer to the ubiquitous peaked caps. Instead they're bizarre helmets that accommodate the actual time-traveling and the ever more zany sub-plot that takes us back and forth between 1937 and 1997.

Though Greevy and Roms are the central characters the cast also includes others; notably Greevy's boyfriend, the fashion reporter T. B. Doyle (John Behlmann); Cromwell (Remy Auberjonois), a grossly overweight mad scientist; and a young stoner in the 1997 segments whose clothes are stolen by their time traveling time machine hatted creator.

The fashion background gives Jones a chance to air some smart social commentary. Since the wild and wooly situations do come with a whiff of a Saturday Night Live skit, especially in the overly long and second act. Consequently, Important Hats. . . isn't quite the trenchant satire it wants to be. However, it is a lot of fun.

Though falling short of its ambition for depth as well as hilarious, director Moritz Von Stuelpnagel and the talented cast wrest every ounce of fun from the wacky plot. Carson Elrod, who I've liked a lot before, is terrific as the self-absorbed, success crazed Sam Greevy. He sounds and even manages to look like the super successful Broadway show costumer William Ivey who's his role model for playing Greevy.

Remy Auberjonois, another seasoned comic actor, is delightfully hard to recognize as Dr. Cromwell. Like most of the ensemble he deftly multi-tasks. No one is fazed by the quick turnarounds needed to change into different costumes and hair pieces (fine work by Jennifer Moeller and Leah J. Loukas). Timothy R. Mackabee ccreates scenic variety without fancy technology. Jason Lyons lighting is another design highlight, especially so during the detour to Roms' factory.

Manhattan Theatre Club is to be commended for partnering with a young company like Studio 42. ven mEore commendable is their managing to present them at an affordable $30 price for five weeks of the run.

A note about those comfortable everyman/woman sweatshirts and pants that seem shanghaied from much later design rooms: Paul Roms is not based on some 1930s Calvin Klein. These type of clothes were introduced by Champion Products, a company formed formed in 1919 by brothers Abe and Bill Fainbloom, as the Knickerbocker Knitting Company to manufacture sturdy sweaters. The company expanded with a heavy-duty cotton it patented as Reverse-Weave. The Champion sweatshirts fashioned from that material were just part of their many athletic wear best sellers.

Important Hats of the Twentieth Century by Nick Jones
Directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel
Cast: Remy Auberjonois (Dr. Comwell, Others), Jon Bass (Jonathan, Others), Reed Campbell (Kern), Carson Elrod (Sam Greevy), Maria Elena Ramirez (Bev, Others), Matthew Saldivar (Paul Roms), Triney Sandoval (Darryl, Others) and Henry Vick (Jimmy the Button Man, Others)
Scenic design:Timothy R. Mackabee
Costume design: Jennifer Moeller
Lighting design: Jason Lyons:
Original music and sound design: Palmer Hefferan
Hair and wig design: Leah Lukas
Fight Director: Robert Westley
Stage Manager:Rachel Bauder
From 11/10/15; opening 11/23/15; closing 12/13/15
All tickets during the initial five-week run are $30.
Running Time: 2 hours, includes 1 intermission
Manhattan Theatre Club in Collaboration with Studio 42 at New York City Center Stage II 131 West 55th Street
Reviewed by Elyse Sommer at 11/21/15 press matinee
REVIEW FEEDBACK
Highlight one of the responses below and click "copy" or"CTRL+C"
  • I agree with the review of Important Hats of the Twentieth Century
  • I disagree with the review of Important Hats of the Twentieth Century
  • The review made me eager to see Important Hats of the Twentieth Century
Click on the address link E-mail: esommer@curtainup.com
Paste the highlighted text into the subject line (CTRL+ V):

Feel free to add detailed comments in the body of the email. . .also the names and emails of any friends to whom you'd like us to forward a copy of this review.

For a feed to reviews and features as they are posted add http://curtainupnewlinks.blogspot.com to your reader
Curtainup at Facebook . . . Curtainup at Twitter
Subscribe to our FREE email updates: E-mail: esommer@curtainup.comesommer@curtainup.com
put SUBSCRIBE CURTAINUP EMAIL UPDATE in the subject line and your full name and email address in the body of the message. If you can spare a minute, tell us how you came to CurtainUp and from what part of the country.
Slings & Arrows  cover of  new Blu-Ray cover
Slings & Arrows- view 1st episode free




Book Of Mormon MP4 Book of Mormon -CD
Our review of the show
amazon




©Copyright 2015, Elyse Sommer.
Information from this site may not be reproduced in print or online without specific permission from esommer@curtainup.com