It Is What It Is

Inspired by the Leiber and Stoller song “Is That All There Is,” Inspector Sands’ messy If That’s All There Is (running in repertory with Hysteria at [59E59 Theaters]) has not one iota of the bemusement of Peggy Lee’s classic ode to disillusionment. There are flashes of genuine pathos and humor, but the production seems louder and more frantic than it needs to.

Of course, I’m a lifetime-long admirer of “Is That All There Is,” so perhaps I was hoping for something more in keeping with a song that finds nothing of interest even in death. However, this particular show feels somehow simultaneously overly plotted and under-developed. Couple Frances (Lucinka Eisler) and Daniel (Ben Lewis) have just been married when the show opens, and as Daniel’s speech drags on and on, Frances looks increasingly ready to snap. Until, that is, a shot rings out and Daniel falls down dead.

From there on, the show takes place in flashback, as Daniel tries to understand Frances’ increasingly bizarre behavior (she watches Spanish soap operas and smears freshly sliced onion on her face to induce tears) by seeing a therapist (Giulia Innocenti), whose lack of reaction comes closest to encapsulating Peggy Lee’s detached recounting of past disappointments. As Daniel tells the therapist about how he first met Frances, she calmly finishes his sentences with him; there is nothing about Frances and Daniel’s relationship that is fresh.

At work, Frances is just as unhinged as she is with Daniel. She tosses rose petals into the air at her desk, rams wedding cake into her mouth, then places the mangled cake back into her desk drawer, and steals on her lunch break just because she’s found fellow shoppers to be annoying.

As Frances and Daniel independently work to some sort of epiphany, their relationship takes a backseat to eccentricity. What is at first amusing quickly turns annoying, as Frances acts out in increasingly outlandish ways, and Daniel (played with perfect puppy-dog charm by Lewis) finds his cheerful, frat-boy confidence chipping away. And scattered across the stage are all the props and debris from their lives, from makeshift confetti to that chopped onion—a conceit that was previously used in Patrick Marber’s Closer.

Perhaps if Eisler imbued Frances with something more than wide eyes and a clenched-fist whisper, we’d be more moved by the disintegration of her relationship with Daniel. But she’s so deeply irritating that we can’t help but feel that the sweet Daniel would be well rid of her and her neuroses. And there’s never a clear articulation of what’s driving Frances to act out in this way.

As both Daniel’s therapist and Frances’ summer employee, Innocenti has a strong grasp of the stylized comedy that runs throughout the play. Whether she’s shredding papers with a joyous abandon or running through a list of potential topics from his past with Daniel, Innocenti exerts the exact right amount of energy to sell her characters and their Quirks.

That’s the most persistent aspect of If That’s All There Is: quirkiness. But sometimes a little quirkiness goes a very long way, and by the time the frenetic goings-on have wrapped up, we’re thrilled to hear Peggy Lee’s calm, cool voice intoning “Is That All There Is.”

If That’s All There Is

Through Jan. 2, 2011, [59E59 Theaters], 59 E. 59th St. (betw. Park & Madison Ave.), 212-279-4200; $35.