Days of Wine and Roses and Dead Brains.

"Days of Wine and Roses" in its movie form starring Jack Lemon and Lee Remick was more subdued and macabre than this musical version that opened at Studio 54 last night. The story is pretty much the same as the movie version, only we get a more upbeat tempo with the music and it goes anathema, unfortunately with the plot. The plot deals with alcoholism between the two main characters: Kirsten Arnesen (Kelli O'Hara) and Joe Clay (Brian D'Arcy James).

In this musical, all the actors are very good; the two leads are excellent, but the problem lies with both the direction (Micheal Greif) and the music and lyrics by Adam Guettel; both trip up the book by Craig Lucas. The problem with the direction is that we get two people who are deeply in love with one another and even with that, the show never knows when to stop being silly and to start dealing with these two lovebirds serious problem, which is alcohol. It is not till the very end that we see what damage the booze has done to this couple, even then it never hits home with the audience as hard as it should. In the music we get songs that never really resonate nor keeps our attention for very long. While "Underneath" and "Forgiveness" are the evenings best, many of the other songs are forgettable; and this is with two of the best singers today on Broadway!

With a pleasing scenic design (Lizzie Clachan), lighting by Ben Stanton and well appointed costumes by Dede Ayite and sound by Kai Harada all work well as does the Co choreography. What makes this musical less memorable is how the music runs in the opposite direction of the book.And even where the book stands out against the backdrop of the shows poor direction, it too fails us at parts.

When it comes to off off Broadway in New York City, I always try to find the hidden gems that may be out there; places like the Merchant House, East Village Playhouse, Ars Nova and many more. Over the last five years or so, off off Broadway has been tied down to more political plays, usually show case plays which have ruined a lot off the make up of the smaller theaters that occupy both the West and East Village. So when a Kurt Vonnegut, or a Gogol at The Russian Theater Company comes around, I try to see them. I not only like the writers, I more enjoy the intimate setting and what the various theater companies do with their performances... how they direct it, how they move their lighting and so on and so forth.

At Feverdream Lounge, an intimate East Village theater, "Dead Brains", a psycosexual thriller that was written and directed by Erik Champney is both up and down throughout the ninety- minute play. I am not a big fan of writers who direct their work; the reason being that often a writer is steadfast to their body of writing. An independent director is able to see things differently and as such, can bring forth a different and often better version of the piece.

The stories premise is a decent one, it has some twists and turns and all three actors put in a good effort. In Champney's direction we never get the full "business" of the actors. I think the facial and body expressions lacked here and made this a monotonous thing to watch. While Jon Pratt as Henry and Charity Schubert as Philly had good chemistry, their body movements were hung out to dry making the dialogue and the plot weaker.

In a smaller venue with low ceilings the sound becomes a difficult task. Here the lighting as well as the sound takes a little off the top and it adds to the distraction of the weak body movements. The audience never gets fully focused on this play because of these hindrances and the writing itself dragged at times.

As a psycosexual thriller, it never rises to a good level of suspense, it never titillates the audience and it never seems believable. In a intimate theater like this I was hoping for a real no- holes- barred type play, one that was raw, sexual and mind blowing, unfortunately we never got anywhere near those levels.

Kelli O'Hara, James, Studio 54, Broadway, Baker Falls, Aladdin, Harry Potter, The Lion King, Tony Awards, Adam Guettel, MJ The Musical, Six, &Juliet.