Little House on the Ferry: The Musical

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The Duplex, a treasured Greenwich Village cabaret room and bar for decades has finally reopened after its 2022 closure due to fire, and is now hosting a fire of another kind, a frothy musical entitled Little House on the Ferry: The Musical (tee-hee) about a flaming bunch of friends heading to Fire Island Pines for the weekend.

Scenic and lighting designers Shawn Lewis and Zach Pizza have totally transformed the upstairs room at The Duplex, removing the cabaret tables and chairs, and covering the walls and floor with festive, fluorescent splashes. Banquettes line the port and starboard sides, giving the feel of being on a ferry (but with cushions, praise Judy!) while the oft-immersive action takes place center-stage and forward.

Writer Robert Gould has penned a silly script and co-written poppy music and lyrics with Rob Arbelo for this very gay affair, with Victoria Rae Sook at the helm for direction.

The bar opens an hour before curtain (there is no curtain), and a cocktail or three is a perfect social lubricant to prepare the audience as they cast off. Just before show starts, statuesque drag queen Xana DuMe (Felipe Galganni), sporting sparkling heels and festively fiery red hair, red lips, and red garb leads the audience in a catchy theme song with lots of rounds of “We’re on Fire <clap clap> Island,” to which the attendees clap with glee. Xana is joined by three sexed up girly-girl Greek chorines (Kailin Brown, Manuela Agudelo, and Kelsey Rogers) who constantly change their very clever outfits (courtesy of delightful costume designer Tyler Holland) and dance in and out of the 17 or 23 songs featured in the production.

The story unfolds as Randall (Charles Osborne), his morally deficient fiancé Timothy (Andrew Leggieri) and buoyant acquaintance Antonio “from San Antonio” (Gilberto Saenz) race to make the customary Fire Island train-to-van-to-ferry-van trip. Following independently is Jake (Troy Valjean Rucker) with whom Randall is madly besotted due to Jake’s politically charged blog Jake’s Rake. Randall, Timothy, and Antonio ultimately land at the Little House on the Ferry, a creaky Pines bungalow that long-time owner Donnie (Christopher Harrod) owns, but not for long because various interested parties want to take the house from him and build a “McMansion.”

At the same time this weekend occurs, the gay marriage bill passes (it eventually becomes clear that the play kicks off on July 24, 2011) and romances are tested as infatuations are indulged.

Osborne’s Randall is vulnerable, funny, and campy. His dance moves are vigorous and outrageous, and his singing infectious. Leggieri as Timothy is regularly detestable, oily as a fish washed up on the nearby beach. He is almost successful in hiding his top-notch singing voice behind his otherwise disagreeable character.

Rucker’s portrayal of Jake is charming and charismatic, and Harrod as the seasoned Donnie sincerely reveals what little integrity and introspection that can be wrung from the script. Harrod gets an extra nod for having the most fun with the audience, tossing out an ad lib here and there to their responses.

Sensitivity and depth of character are not lengthy visitors in any of these parts, and by far the shallowest and most thinly crafted persona is that of Antonio, and Saenz’s portrayal is eye-rollingly annoying (not always a bad thing, but it’s over the top to a fault). Gay stereotyping is at an all-time high in this production, and the only thing lighter in the loafers than Antonio (and his incessant infatuation with the bartender Max, portrayed by a blow-up muscle doll (genius), is Gould’s script itself, which makes passing attempts at being genuine and authentic but this breezy production doesn’t take anything too seriously.

And hey, someone’s got to say it, so it might as well be me–this show is so uber gay that every time the trio of chorus girls comes out and does their sexy dancing thing, a person can’t help but think these ladies are as out of place as male waiters at Hooters or female cast members in Naked Boys Singing. As fantastic as these hot chorus girls are they should have been hot chorus boys, and dressed in those same fabulous costumes–how priceless would that have been? This fact is never clearer than during the song “Did You Score” where everyone’s writhing around sexually. The audience might be able to suspend their disbelief that these characters would ever have been a welcome sight in the Pines, but no amount of imagination can transport a person through a gay faux-sex act where women are present.

The good news is that Little House on the Ferry is full of heart and brimming with laughs. Sook’s use of the space is commendable even if she struggles to wring a few ounces of earnestness out of the largely cartoonish characters. Michael McCrary’s choreography is simply awesome, and the music and songs are super fun. The actors are having such a great time that even some of the lesser jokes and moments of duller wit in the script are forgiven. “So far, so fun!” exclaimed my theater companion after the first number, and when a towering Galganni as Xana DuMe breaks out into a vigorous tap dance, it’s truly a fantastic moment that throws the audience into a delicious tizzy, present company included.

The best joke of the evening (for Gen-X’ers, anyway):  when Randall bemoans turning thirty, he’s met with the retort “On Logan’s Run you’d be dead.” Oh, and “I’m gonna get that guy from Kansas, and his little Blog, too!”

Little House on the Ferry: The Musical (through January 5, 2025)

The Duplex, Ferry’s Landing NYC, 61 Christopher Street, in Manhattan

For tickets visit http://www.littlehouseontheferry.com

Running time: 100 minutes without an intermission