Without Sense

I spent most of With Glee, the new musical about a boys’ boarding school set in an indeterminate era (cell phones exist, but one of the boys lets loose with an exclamatory “Lands!”), rolling my eyes and trying to telekinetically force the minute hand of my watch to creep forward. So why, exactly, did I end up leaving the theater with a grudging admiration for the show?

Blame director Igor Goldin, who has shown a flair for burnishing good shows (Like You Like It at Gallery Players) and making slightly more palatable the lesser ones (Yank! at The York). In his sure hands, the cast of seven turns in creditable performances that sometimes cohere into something giddily infectious. Never mind that these actors are playing boys of 13—like Ann-Margret as a 15-year-old in Bye Bye Birdie, they don’t even try. And never mind that the book and lyrics, both by John Gregor (who also wrote the music) are groan-inducing. The rhymes are both obvious and contrived; the music is mostly unmemorable; and the running gag of having Greg Horton play every adult male in quick succession quickly wears thin. Horton lacks the crispness to make his sudden about-faces into a new character pop, which further deflates the already limp joke.

Banished to a Maine boarding school for bad behavior, acting like a sissy or to acquire the appropriate polish that befits one of the oldest families in New York, the five boys in With Glee all encounter the usual teen-angst problems. Parents are either vague or divorced or separating; girls are a constant obsession; and their relative wealth has prevented them from ever even enjoying a pizza. Well, maybe they’re not quite the usual angsty problems. But only poor Pittsburg transplant Sam (Max Spitulnik) has ever tasted the delights of a greasy slice. The rest, all New Yorkers, can only dream.

Little things like that can add up to a disastrous evening of apathy for the audience, but as Gregor’s script becomes increasingly ridiculous, Goldin finds his sweet spot. He and choreographer Antoinette DiPietropolo contribute a hilarious spin on a one-act musical written by the delicate Kip (Jason Edward Cook, the evening’s standout). The story of a Nazi pilot who lands on the grounds of an English boarding school, the show within a show is both a hilarious send-up of student productions and the chance for the actors to flaunt the comedic timing that the rest of Gregor’s script doesn’t call for. When Cook slips into a Carol Channing impression as the pilot, the evening reaches its high point.

As the prickly Clay, the only student who actually likes being away from home, Dan Lawler is another unexpected delight, though he disappears for a large chunk of the show’s final third. It’s to Goldin’s credit that he managed to find five actors who could play teens without resorting to simpering or ersatz bluster, because there’s not a bad performance among them. Still, it’s hard not to discern the New York Musical Theatre Festival origins of the show, which never feels like anything more than a silly lark with songs. There’s always a place for silly larks in theaters, of course, but one can’t help but wish that Gregor had made With Glee a little less sloppy and a little more polished. As it is, the show works best as a showcase for its cast, from whom we’ll hopefully being hearing more.

With Glee

Through Aug. 1, Kirk Theatre, 410 W. 42nd St. (betw. 9th & 10th Aves.), 212-279-4200; $25.