Goodbye Love, Goodbye Joy, Hello Travis McElroy
The Shop @ Ft. Fringe

Remaining performances:
July 23 at 9:45 pm; July 25 at 11:30 am

They say: You make your living pretending to be someone you’re not. Goodbye, love. Everybody else’s entertainment is your job. Goodbye, joy. So is it possible to work in Hollywood without your life turning into a sitcom? Hello, Travis McElroy.

Sheffy says: Jellybeans?! When staging a play gushing with stereotypes, the blubbering young woman who just lost her boyfriend medicates with chocolate ice cream. Even I know that. And there is plenty of blubbering (and jellybeans) in a play about three female roommates in Hollywood fighting over clothes, movie gigs, and men (meow!). There’s Kelly (Kristen Egermeier), the beautiful self-centered actress who’ll do anything, or anyone, to get her big break; Jessica (Teresa Spencer) the out-of-work actress who doesn’t seem to understand how to play the game in Hollywood; and then there’s the sweet Linda (Megan Dominy) with the big heart, yet sans boyfriend.

Thanks to one of the wonderful miracles of alcohol, Kelly awakes one morning to find in her bed the pathetic Travis McElroy (David Dowell). She promptly dumps him on her roommates as she slips out to pursue her career (er, allowing herself to get used by a sleazy, egotistic movie producer who promises her a part). As Travis cluelessly waddles after Kelly, Linda is attracted to his naïveté. Will Travis-the-romantic go for the pretty face, or the big heart? Well, what would happen in Hollywood? I could find no moral in this story, but Hollywood isn’t known for its morals.

The movie producer sums up Hollywood: if you get a big name actor, add some big tits, the script doesn’t matter. Apparently, 10th Muse Productions doesn’t put much stock in scripts either. For example, in what world do these ladies even end up with such a loser as Travis (with internet video gaming providing a venue for dorks to totally avoid social interaction, do people even still play Dungeons & Dragons)? OK, they were aiming for sitcom (without a laugh track), and they do elicit a few legitimate chuckles. But the one-dimensional writing is just tolerably redeemed by some engaging comedic acting. I credit director Patrick Torres for putting together a humorous show that could easily have defaulted to “college theater.”

See it if: You felt that Carrie should have married Aidan in season 4 of “Sex and the City” or you even have an idea what I’m talking about.

Skip it if: You think “Sex and the City” is a porn movie.