I saw Teeth at New World Stages on November 20, 2024.
It's the new musical by Michael R. Jackson. I saw both of his previous musicals, A Strange Loop and White Girl in Danger, with my dear friend Scott. He more or less made a special trip from Wisconsin to see them.
A Strange Loop won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and also the Tony for Best Musical. It was without a doubt the most disturbing and challenging show I've ever seen on Broadway. And it was a MUSICAL. I loved it, I was totally on board for whatever this guy was going to do.
His next show was White Girl In Danger, which we saw in March 2023. That show was challenging in a different way - - it examined race in a confrontational way, like A Strange Loop, but it also had big challenges in the narrative. Again, I loved it and was anxious to see what he'd do next.
I was freaking apoplectic when I heard that his next show was an adaptation of the 2007 horror comedy movie Teeth. I saw that movie in the theater - - I was intrigued by the director and the story. The director was Mitchell Lichtenstein, the son of the great artist Roy Lichentstein. The movie is about a young woman named Dawn in an evangelical Christian community who realizes that she has a vagina dentata. A number of men left the screening whimpering, with their hands gripped tightly over their gonads. I told my best friend Karen about it and she said, "Only a gay man would come up with that idea. And only a gay man would enjoy it." Guilty as charged!
Michael R. Jackson was exactly the guy to take this screwy movie and turn the dial up to eleven to make it an even screwier musical comedy. Scott came into town this past spring and saw the show - - I wasn't able to go with him and was thrilled to see it was being revived at a ratty old theater on West 50th Street. This show differs from the previous two Jackson shows in a a couple of important ways. First, it's Jackson's first show based on something else. His previous shows were relentlessly original. Second, he collaborated with someone else in the writing. The other two shows had all three elements - - music, lyrics, and book - - by Jackson. This one has lyrics by Jackson, music by Anna K. Jacobs, and they wrote the book together.
I LOVED the show. I can't think of another show that had my heart pounding as hard as this one. Ever. It was thrilling to see a show that had such unbridled female aggression against the patriarchy. The audience was totally into it - - I was (as usual) sitting in the last row of the balcony so I couldn't really see the audience downstairs, but judging from the sound of their laughter and screams, it was a lot of women under 40.
Scott had told me that Teeth has a strong narrative structure - - this was the case with A Strange Loop but not with White Girl In Danger. It's funny how a strong narrative structure puts one at ease, even in a show about a young woman who kills men with the teeth in her hoo ha.
The songs were outstanding. Jackson knows how to write lyrics that you can really understand - - I got nearly every word, which is unusual in a Broadway show. Plus the words are clever and/or meaningful, making you WANT to listen (not always the case). Jacobs's music was catchy and full of impact. One fault I'll find in her music: her songs for Dawn were a little too wide-ranging. I'm more sensitive to this since seeing Ragtime a couple weeks ago but you can deliver the drama without such a huge range. I'm not saying we have to go the Stevie Nicks route and have a range of five notes, but not every showstopper has to have the range of "The Star-Spangled Banner." It's a lot to ask of the actor playing that role, especially eight shows a week.
Jackson's other two shows had racial issues as their central theme. This show didn't examine race at all, it was all about the patriarchy. I read online that Jackson and Jacobs added a storyline for Dawn's nemesis and stepbrother Brad, making him incel. This is a term I didn't know - - I'll quote the Wikipedia definition:
"Incel is a term associated with an online subculture of people (racially diverse but mostly white, male and heterosexual) who define themselves as unable to find a romantic or sexual partner despite desiring one, and blame, objectify and denigrate women and girls as a result."
Toxic masculinity at its most toxic! That makes for exciting theatre.
My performance had the standby actor playing Dawn, the central character. Her name was Kyra Kennedy and she was marvelous. It took a little while for her voice to warm up but after that she was off to the races. By the way, I was curious about the difference between a standby and an understudy. I asked Google and posted the response at the bottom of the review.
The other outstanding performance was from Andy Karl as Pastor and Dr. Godfrey, who I'll call The Gyno. I was excited to see his name on the cast list - - I saw him as the title character in Rocky, the Musical (which was surprisingly good) and as the hunky young guy in On the Twentieth Century. He's built out of charisma and really knows how to give a performance. I had the feeling he relished the challenge of playing a darker character in this show - - Pastor is a real menace, a deeply troubled man. And then he had a field day playing The Gyno, a close relative to the dentist in Little Shop of Horrors. His number was the high point of the show. It started rather quiet and cheeky and built up into a real showstopper, with the six women in the chorus playing imaginary gyno nurses doing a tap number while Dawn bites off the hand of The Gyno. Yes. It was that kind of show.
The show was expertly directed by Sarah Benson. She kept the tone even and didn't shy away from flights of fancy. It takes some know-how to navigate between the real world and the trips to Cray Cray and she knew how to do it. It's not often I mention the lighting design but Jane Cox and Stacey Derosier's design was outstanding, it greatly aided the success of the show.
I give extra points to a show for being transgressive, offensive, counterculture, and/or nasty. This show had me examining that urge. I left the theater asking myself, "Just because something is wrong, does that mean it's good?"
The short answer is No. But in the case of Teeth, it's both wrong and good. Very good, genius good.
PS:
Standby
A standby actor is always ready to perform a demanding role at a moment's notice. They are backstage, made up, and costume-ready throughout the performance. Standbys are usually called upon for the most important roles, and not every show has one. For example, both witches in Wicked have a standby.Â
Understudy
An understudy learns the lines, blocking, and choreography for another actor's role. They are a member of the ensemble or a principal performer. Understudies are aware in advance when they will perform. They can be called upon if the regular actor is unable to perform. Some understudies have become stars, including Shirley MacLaine, Elaine Stritch, Vivian Vance, and Bernadette Peters.
PPS:
Shirley MacLaine was understudy to Carol Haney in The Pajama Game
Elaine Stritch was understudy to Ethel Merman in Anything Goes
Vivian Vance was understudy to Ethel Merman in Call Me Madam
I knit my brow at Bernadette Peters. She was understudy to whatever little girl was playing Dainty June in the second national tour of Gypsy. That seems like a bit of a stretch. Though it reminds me of a funny thing she said at an all-Sondheim concert at Carnegie Hall years ago. I paraphrase:
"I used to say in my bio that I played Dainty June in the national tour of Gypsy. That was a lie. I was the understudy to Dainty June. [pause, chuckles from the audience] And that girl who played Dainty June? Where is she now?" [screams and riotous applause from the audience]
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