From Herbert Hoover’s “two cars in every garage” to winning a Nissan Pickup, with no garage at all – talk about product placement! In the new Broadway musical, Hands on Hardbody,a cherry-red Nissan hardbody pickup sits centerstage. It is virtually the only prop of major proportions onstage and provides most of the scenery.
The object of the endurance contest that is musically on view at the Brooks Atkinson Theater is for someone to keep his-or-her gloved hands on this hardbody until everyone else drops out — either from fatigue or discouragement. The winner then gets the keys and can drive the Nissan home, even if there’s no garage there.
This contest is taking-place in Longview, Texas, which, despite its name which celebrates a long view of the Texas landscape, seems to be like the Oakland, CA of Gertrude Stein’s famous-phrase: “There’s no there there.”
The ostensible social value of the Nissan is that it brings together a raffish collection of small-town losers who would otherwise seldom or never meet. The entertainment value, on the other hand, is that we get to see them all dancing and singing around the Hardbody, while they tell us and fellow contestants about their often-desperate and sad lives.
It was clear from watching varied samples of the audience (when my attention was not riveted to the stage) that many empathized or even identified with the group protagonists. By now — after two Bush terms, two disastrous wars and the corporate takeover of America — it has become obvious that the American Dream has become a Nightmare. Even a pile of crap. This is what Doug White’s book suggests, but it may not be something to sing about. Nonetheless, such talents as Keith Carradine, Connie Ray, Allison Case, Jay Armstrong Johnson and Hunter Foster (Sutton Foster’s brother) put all their energy and belief into the roles assigned them.
It’s not easy to construct choreography around a Hardbody (a truck, that is, not Rita Hayworth) — but Sergio Trujillo does his best. Neil Pepe, the guru of off-Broadway’s Atlantic Theater Company, stages. Musically, “Some Enchanted Evening” is more my speed. Hands on Hardbody seems more like Rock of Ages in a Nissan dealership. Speaking of product placement: during many attention lulls in the production, I studied the tires on the Nissan. Oddly enough, there was no brand name visible. Were they Bridgestones or Goodyears or Michelins? An advantageous advertising opportunity missed.
