Off-B'way Reviews: Romy and Michele: The Musical; Endgame

Laura Bell Bundy, Kara Lindsay and the cast
of Romy and Michele: The Musical.
Credit: Valerie Terranova

Quirky, silly fun can be had at Romy & Michele: The Musical, based on the 1997 cult film comedy Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion. Yes, this is yet another tuner based on a popular movie from decades ago about outsiders getting their revenge on the cool, cruel kids. A revival of Heathers is still playing, and there’s also Mean Girls in recent memory, plus there have been originals with the same theme such as The Prom and Be More Chill. But Robin Schiff’s book based on her screenplay, which is in turn based on her play Ladies’ Room, is strongly constructed, takes several inventive twists and turns and has two hilariously original characters at its center. In addition, Gwendolyn Sanford and Brandon Jay’s score is bouncy, clever and funny.

Kara Lindsay and Laura Bell Bundy in
Romy and Michele: The Musical.
Credit: Valerie Terranova

Laura Bell Bundy and Kara Lindsay are brilliantly ditsy yet emotionally sympathetic in the title roles of two best friends drifting through life, originated by Mira Sorvino and Lisa Kudrow in the film. The action beings in the year of the movie, or B.G. (Before Google) as a projected supertitle informs us at the opening (Caite Hevner created the splashy, colorful projections.) Romy and Michele spend their time watching TV, hitting the clubs, designing and making their own clothes (Tina McCartney created the kicky, frolicsome costumes), scrambling by either at a menial job (Romy) or on unemployment (Michele). An invitation to their 10-year high school reunion triggers flashbacks to their adolescence when they were each others’ only companions and the source of mockery from the A-group, led by evil cheerleader Christie (a zestfully nasty Lauren Zakrin). 

They decide to pretend to be billionaire entrepreneurs who invented Post-Its. In the days before Google and the Internet, there was no quick way for their former classmates to verify the story. Hilarity ensues as the best friends attempt to pull off the bluff and end up on top. The silly premise is not the strong point of the show, but the impressive, off-kilter performances, Sanford and Jay’s pop-infused, kicky score, and Kristin Hanggi’s fluid, fast-paced direction keeps the merriment bubbling. Jason Sherwood’s suggestive sets provide for easy transitions and multiple locations.

Laura Bell Bundy and Kara Lindsay in
Romy and Michele: The Musical.
Credit: Valerie Terranova 

Bundy and Lindsay are perfect foils for each other, delivering Romy and Michele’s lines of twisted logic with precise timing and California accents and then following them up with riotous silent reactions. Their bond of friendship is entirely believable and strong, as is their fractious conflict over which one of the two is the Mary and who is the Rhoda, referring to the lead characters from Mary Tyler Moore’s beloved sitcom. 

Jordan Kai Burnett nearly steals the show as the cynical Heather who unleashes her anger over her lack of romantic prospects since high school with a darkly funny number declaring “Love Is…” (BS). Je’Shaun Jackson endears as the nerdy yearbook editor Toby, Pascal Pastrana humorously captures the dim-bulb hunk Billy and Michael Thomas Grant makes a sensational transformation from geeky Sandy to billionaire adult. Romy and Michele is not a contender for a Broadway transfer or a Tony Award but it’s an evening of easy laughs and bubbly-nostalgia-for-the-90s fun.

Aaron Monaghan and Rory Nolan in Endgame.
Credit: HanJie Chow

At the other end of the theatrical spectrum, the Irish Arts Center is presenting a different kind of comedy, tinged with despair: Druid’s production of Samuel Beckett’s end-of-the-world classic Endgame. In Garry Hynes’ powerful staging, slapstick combines with existentialist angst as master and servant Hamm and Clov struggle through a typical day in a post-apocalyptic nightmarescape (Francis O’Connor created the appropriately bedraggled set and costumes.) 

Bosco Hogan and Marie Mullen in Endgame.
Credit: HanJie Chow

Originally presented in 1957 in London, Endgame depicts a desolate world teetering on extinction. Elderly, blind and immobilized Hamm bosses around Clov who is unable to sit down. These two, along with Hamm’s ancient parents Nagg and Nell who reside in two huge garbage cans, appear to be the only living beings left on earth. Like the tramps of Godot, they fill their time with distractions, stories, scanning the outside world for any signs of life, and arguing. Their antics reach comic proportions as they attempt to stave off a seemingly inevitable demise. Rory Nolan’s domineering Hamm and Aaron Monaghan’s feisty Clov are like a tragic Laurel and Hardy, driving each other mad while clinging to each other because they know they’re all they’ve got. Bosco Hogan and Marie Mullen invest Nagg and Nell with subtext, suggesting a life before disaster struck.     

This production perfectly captures Beckett’s unique mixture of guffaws and the grotesque, unlike the lightweight all-star Broadway Waiting for Godot now on Broadway.     

Romy & Michele: The Musical: Oct. 28—March 1, 2026. Stage 42, 422 W. 42nd St., NYC. Running time: two hours and 20 mins. including intermission. telecharge.com

Endgame: Oct. 26—Nov. 23. Druid at the Irish Arts Center, 726 11th Ave. NYC. Running time: 90 mins. with no intermission. irishartscenter.org.