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Casual fans of the theater will no doubt find amusing Mistakes Were Made, Craig Wrights tortured and torturous new comedy about a theater producer. Producer Felix Artifex (who has a poster of his revival of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, starring Roseanne Barr and Erik Estrada, hanging on a wall) takes calls and tries to force a reluctant playwright to create an entirely new plot for his French Revolution drama to satisfy an interested movie star. Suddenly, the French Revolution drama that Felix wants to mount on Broadway will now feature a dying child, who urges her brother to ensure that the revolution happens with her dying breath, before said brother falls in love with Marie Antoinette. Oh, and that movie star? Hed really prefer a one-man show.
The problem is, everything about the show (which is little more than a 90-minute monologue from Felix, with occasional interruptions from his secretary, Esther, played by Mierka Girten) feels as cynical for those of us invested in quality theater as Felixs real opinion of the French Revolution drama, also called Mistakes Were Made. Felix is trying to wrangle a star name, no matter the cost, while dealing with the repercussions of a bizarre get-rich-quick scheme involving a thousand sheep now being held hostage in a desert by men with flamethrowers. As he paces, screams, coaxes and flatters, Felix is a man unraveling.
Which gives star Michael Shannon plenty of opportunity to overact. Director Dexter Bullard keeps him on the move, grinding pages of the script under his heel or jumping up during lulls in phone calls to converse with a fish (poor puppeteer Sam Deutsch spends the show in a box, jerking the fish on a string). Shannon makes sure were never bored, but not being bored doesnt mean were interested. After a while, we simply dont care whether or not Felix gets his shot at producing a Broadway blockbuster. Certainly not the one hes now trying to pitch his playwright, at least.
By the plays end, which finds Felix contemplating a one-man show about a man fraying at the seams while trying to produce a Broadway show, one might be tempted to envy those who were able to hang up on him. At least they can escape from his ceaseless vortex of lies, double-talk and misdirection. Alas, were in it for the whole ride, whether or not we find in Felix an avatar of all that is wrong with Broadway. Enough mistakes are made every season on the Great White Way without having Wright embroider on them.
Mistakes Were Made
Through Feb. 27, 2011, [Barrow Street Theatre], 27 Barrow St. (at 7th Ave.), 212-868-4444; $45–$65.