In 2016, I saw the New York premiere of Underground Railroad Game at Ars Nova. That play was written by Jenn Kidwell and Scott Sheppard, in association with the Philadelphia-based troupe Lightning Rod Special. A bold commentary on race and American history set in a classroom, the play was uniquely brilliant and traveled the world for years. With great anticipation, I had to take in their next production, The Appointment, a musical about abortion.
Mr. Sheppard is one the creators of this work, along with composer Alex Bechtel and Director Eva Steinmetz. Alice York is the lead artist of this heady trip and plays the woman who has booked the appointment of the title. We eventually get to that clinically uncomfortable section but not before the fetuses blow our minds.
This show opens with a chorus of fetuses with umbilical cords hanging from their bellies. Jillian Keys outfitted this cast with memorably playful and sometimes pointedly disturbing costumes. Hilariously, the unborn babies are in various stages of development. They tease. They play with the audience. “Feed us” is the message.
The early vibe in this show feels like the silly aesthetic of the 1972 Woody Allen film Everything You Ever Really Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask). One year later the Supreme Court decision Roe vs. Wade made history and legalized abortion. The Appointment does not shy away from the seriousness of this still hotly contested law.
A fetus asks the audience, “who here has ever had a birthday?” “Must be nice” is the reply. The dialogue is edgy and surprising for not taking sides. Women who don’t want men ruling over their bodies is certainly addressed. Dripping with sarcasm, one of them says, “My dream daddy takes all my decisions off my plate and replaces it with applesauce.”
The scenes at the clinic are completely different in tone. Ms. York is going to be read her state-decreed instructions before the procedure. The mood in the waiting room is more somber and effectively chilly. We have just watched playful fetuses from the inside and now we are confronting the much scarier outside world.
One casualty has a scene wearing a harsh and memorable costume. He sings the lyric “I never learned to walk.” In a country deeply divided over the issue of abortion, this musical intends to make you squirm. Boundary pushing is a definite goal.
The Appointment does seem a bit too long and starts to drag on. The early scenes are so energetic that what follows has trouble matching those highs. The tone shifts between quietly contemplative and goofy tomfoolery. The Thanksgiving dinner is certainly loony tunes but also not as cleverly effective as the preceding material.
Next Door at NYTW (New York Theater Workshop) provides a home for companies and artists who are producing their own work. This outrageously provocative musical should be seen by theatergoers who can equally embrace challenging, offensive, funny and serious material. I don’t believe The Appointment will change opinions on abortion. It will, however, demand you to see the other side of the argument.