Pity the poor travel agent. Always trying to please cranky
customers and dealing with sometimes outlandish and preposterous travel
requests. These are just some of
the problems portrayed in the mildly amusing Off-Broadway comedy, Craving for
Travel.
Joanne and Gary are two formerly
married travel agents now operating separate companies. They have a friendly competitive edge,
which becomes more acute as they vie for the profession’s ultimate award—the
Globel Prize as top agent of the year.
Along the way, the duo handles a variety of demands, inquiries, and
outright pleas from a host of eccentric, over-the-top characters, all depicted
by the two actors, Michele Ragusa and Thom Sesma.
Charlie Corcoran’s sets for the two
agencies, reasonable facsimiles of everyday offices, sit side by side on the
stage, which allows the show to be structured as a back and forth between the
two players. A phone is answered
in one office while the actor on the other side of the stage portrays one of
the agency’s many offbeat clients.
When the conversation ends the reverse occurs—the second agent’s phone
rings while the first agent/actor has a dialogue as a different customer. The show alternates in this format as one
dilemma after another are presented and then, miraculously, resolved by the end
of the 80 minute, intermissionless production.
The script by Greg Edwards and Andy
Sandberg will be beloved by any travel agent that makes a living handling and
negotiating the whims and stipulations of their customers. However, most jokes fall flat and are uninspired. The goofy two-dimensional characters
they have dreamed up, fun when first introduced, become somewhat tedious by the
show’s end.
Michele Ragusa and Thom Sesma, both
very capable actors, seem to relish the opportunity to play so many ridiculous
and colorful roles. They infuse
each of their characters, through facial expressions and varied vocal
inflections, with a singular, yet fetching personality.
Doubling as director, Andy Sandberg
has the production running at a rapid fire pace, which is essential for the
show not to become bogged down through the back and forth interactions of the
two actors. The difficulty is
continually creating interesting and comedic short vignettes within the
parameters of the show’s structure.
Sometimes Sandberg succeeds with the material that Sandberg (and Edwards)
have provided.
Craving for Travel, a less then
hoped for excursion, at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater through February 9th.
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