I’ll Be Damned, Amy Wolk Sings, Bette Midler’s “Divine Madness”

I’ll Be Damned Photo: Carol Rosegg
 
I’ll Be Damned, a new musical by recent NYU graduates Rob Broadhurst and Brent Black—who wrote the show in the Tisch Graduate Musical Theater Writing Program—is the second production by JARADOA (Just a Roomful of Artists Doing Outreach and) Theater that I’ve walked out on at intermission. The first was the mind-numbingly self-indulgent Shafrika, the White Girl, which shares Damned’s director, April Nickell, and choreographer, Luis Salgado. To say that I’ll Be Damned, which closed on July 18 after a short run, is an amateurish piece of work not worthy of critical review is an understatement. A comic-book-inspired fairy tale about a 17-year-old boy (Jacob Hoffman) who leads a sheltered life without friends due to his smothering mother (Mary Testa) and creates a comic-book character called Friendetta (Kenita R. Miller) who finds “friends” for people, Damned is an interesting idea that its creators don’t know how to develop or execute. Its characters are two-dimensional, the score (though it exhibits some craft and tunefulness) is derivative and repetitive,  and the whole production is so lame that kids (presumably the target audience) would roll their eyes in boredom and derision. But JARADOA is equally committed to “performance-based outreach” and productions, so that’s where they score their points (by helping kids in schools, etc.) and why friends, family and, yes, critics are willing to come sit through their lackluster, dreary productions. Their outreach programs may be terrific but JARADOA continues to shoot themselves in the foot by mounting claptrap such as I’ll Be Damned to promote their mission. They just lend credibility to the adage that people who can’t get cast end up forming their own theater companies.
 
It takes chutzpah and a big pair of tits to take on one of Bette Midler’s iconic stage shows, but performer Amy Wolk’s got the requisite equipment and did a great job recently with Midler’s Divine Madness as part of Lennie Watts’ “Under the Covers” series at Don’t Tell Mama. Supported by a terrific band (Steven Ray Watkins on piano, Jerry Smith on drums and Matt Wigton on bass) as well as her own “Staggering Harlettes”—the delicious and talented Stefan Basti, Jack Herholdt and Thomas Marcus—Wolk works her way through Midler’s classic material displaying a real affinity for a lyric, especially in ballads like “Do You Want to Dance?” and “Shiver Me Timbers.” Of course, the Divine Miss M herself is an irreplaceable legend but Wolk gets the balance of imitation and homage just right. But having seen several of Wolk’s own shows, I can’t wait to see what she does next with her own material. A star in her own right, she doesn’t need anyone else’s coattails to make an artistic statement. Keep an eye on Wolk, whos’s definitely one of our next divas-in-training!    N