Off-Broadway's Atlantic Theater Company debuts "These Paper Bullets!," a new play with music by Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong. NY1’s Roma Torre filed the following review.
I recently described a new play as an “everything-but-the-kitchen-sink comedy.” "These Paper Bullets" is another entry in the genre. It’s Shakespeare meets the Beatles. More precisely, it’s a takeoff of “Much Ado About Nothing” set in 1964 featuring four young band mates from Liverpool. And one of them, Ben, has a love hate relationship with the feisty Bea. If that is not enough, “Green Day’s” Billie Joe Armstrong wrote the music. It is a clever mish-mashup but the comedy comes so fast and furious – you know what they say – too much of a good thing…
They are modeled on the famously combative Beatrice and Benedick of course. And if that doesn’t mean much to you, I’d suggest you brush up on your Shakespeare because it’s hard to truly appreciate the conceit without knowing the “Much Ado” story.
And much like "Much Ado", the plot is awfully convoluted but it is fun matching the characters with their counterparts. Instead of Ringo the drummer, there is Pedro. The young ingénue Hero is here a fashion model named Higgy... think Twiggy. And her suitor, the Claudio character is here named Claude.
The farcical elements are high points but the play is overstuffed. At two and a half hours, the novelty wears off and it becomes exhausting trying to keep up with the myriad references.
I especially enjoyed Armstrong’s original songs. Designed to sound like Beatles tunes, they are quite accomplished in their own right.
The performances are excellent. Maintaining that manic level of comedy is quite a challenge. Keira Naughton and Lucas Papaelias stand out in supporting roles. Bryan Fenkart marries romance with laughs winningly.
Nicole Parker displays a fine gift for physical comedy; and she and Justin Kirk have a blast as the battling duo even if Rolin Jones dialogue falls well short of the Bard’s poetic lyricism.
Director Jackson Gay lets it all hang out for better and worse, though there clearly is method to the madness. If only there wasn’t so much of it.