There’s real talent on the stage. The performers in R.R.R.E.D. all have great voices, and they do their best to entertain. Matt Loer, late of The Book of Mormon, brings an endearing Jack McBrayer quality to GJ, who’s just happy to serve his disagreeable leader, super belter Victoria (Katie Thompson). Even wearing a ridiculous wig, Marissa Rosen brings joy to her big number, explaining herself in a wince worthy message, “I’m not pregnant, just fat.” Kevin Zak cheerfully soldiers through a laudable, but wildly off topic, endorsement of gay rights. Unfortunately, it’s like trying to pull an elephant up a hill in a little red wagon. The premise of the piece is that redheads are dying out, so a secret society has been formed to tell the gingers to procreate with each other at any cost. There’s a lot of free floating fury, shouting, and just plain silliness. Why is this a secret society? And why all the screaming and yelling? It’s never really explained. As the audience entered the theater, we were each given a slip of paper with the name of a well- known person, and told not to reveal it to anyone. Nothing was done with these papers, so I have no idea of their purpose. There’s always a celebrity guest; this time, it was the venerable Tovah Feldshuh. She gamely played along and seemed to be having fun; she even did pushups on the stage. There were several show biz in jokes; a description of anger was likened to Patti LuPone when a cell phone went off in a theater where she was performing. Loer gamely lobbed a Mormon joke. The title, incidentally, stands for Real Redheaded Revolutionary Evolutionary Defiance. This is part of the humor. Full disclosure; as a proud redhead myself, I was hoping for better. There actually is a story here, which was glanced over quickly. It’s true that Judas is widely accepted as being a redhead, and there are many other instances of discrimination. In Ireland, it’s considered bad luck if the first person to cross your threshold on New Year’s Day is a redhead. Damian Lewis has spoken of the insults he’s taken over the years for being a “ginger.” “Kick a ginger day” may sound funny, but not if you’re the one being kicked. Ron Weasley, the comic relief of Harry Potter’s gang, fits the stereotype of the goofy redhead. A British joke goes “How do we know Harry Potter is fiction?” “Because the ginger has more than one friend.” It was widely reported that Prince Charles was disappointed when he found out his wife had presented him with a redheaded son. There’s even an historical basis for the disdain. Viking marauders brought in red hair and blue eyes, and yes, they were quite understandably not met by the welcome wagon. Any acknowledgement of this kind of real prejudice would have added a little gravitas, and maybe even dignity, to the proceedings. It may well be true that redheads will be extinct in 2100. This production is extinct right now. It closed tonight, well ahead of the previously announced October 21st date.
