Although I’m one of the few Americans who didn’t watch “Friends” during its ten-year run on network TV, I still enjoyed Friends! The Musical Parody now running as a guest production at the Kirk Douglas. Complete familiarity with the sitcom didn’t prove necessary, especially not when the characters in the revue---Rachel, Ross, Monica, Chandler, Phoebe, and Joey---are lampooned time and time again in repetitive fashion. The New York-based creators of the revue, Bob & Tobly McSmith, have also poked fun at such other TV shows as “The Office,” “Full House,” and “Kardashians,” so they know their way around the genre. Working with director Tim Drucker, they have now assembled a road company of Friends, which is presently touring North America. The McSmiths have also written a lot of songs for the show, approximately two dozen, few of which last longer than a minute. The rapid-fire, skin-deep numbers are just what modern audiences like, owing to their short attention-span and love of camp. Broken down into two acts, Friends mostly revisits episodes from the early years of the TV show in act one, bringing them to life in swift, deft sketches interspersed with song and dance (the clever choreography is by Billy Griffin). The actors change costumes in a twinkling in front of a large video screen on which a different set is projected. To complete the TV-like world of FRIENDS, we also watch 90s commercials flash by in a montage. In act two, the satire finally has a little more bite to it, with jabs being taken at Joey (Domenic Servidio) for his air-headedness and fixation on his pet chicken and duck (presented as satanic creatures). Jennifer Aniston and her fellow sitcom stars also get ribbed for their love of money (each demanded to be paid a million bucks per episode). The songs are also sharper and more barbed in this act, making for a stronger finish. My enjoyment of Friends could be mostly attributed to the sheer virtuosity of the cast. Sami Griffith, Tyler Fromson, Maggie McMeans, Aaron C. Rutherford, Madison Fuller, and the afore-mentioned Domenic Servidio did yeoman work up there, clowning, singing and dancing like the troupers of old. Remember their names: they are the future stars of the American musical theater.
