Fans of a certain 10-season-long NBC sitcom smash are more likely than not to enjoy Friends! The Musical Parody, a touring guest production at Culver City’s Kirk Douglas Theatre.

Featuring over a dozen tuneful if unmemorable, occasionally clever songs (music by Assaf Gleizner, lyrics by Bob and Tobly McSmith) performed by a terrifically talented New York-based non-Equity cast, the 90-minutes-plus-intermission show is one best appreciated by those fully versed in the 1994-2004 sitcom.

While book writers McSmith and McSmith do occasionally recreate some of the show’s more memorable sequences (as when They All Find Out about Chandler and Monica’s secret affair), Friends: The Musical Parody is primarily composed of tribute songs spoofing the show’s main conceits.

“45 Grove Street – How Can We Afford This Place?” wonders just that, how six 20somethings could possibly earn enough to pay for their expansive Greenwich Village digs. “How you Doing, Ladies?” is Joey doing his best to teach Chandler and Ross how to say his trademark pickup line. “The One Where We Make a Million Dollars An Episode” pokes fun at the record-breaking salaries that have ensured lifelong financial security for six once unknown actors.

Other songs reminisce about story arcs. (“We were on a Break!” brings back memories of Ross and Rachel’s time out while “The Ballad of Fat Monica” recalls the show’s many flashbacks to its lead characters’ high school days and gives us a chance to see Ross’s sister before her college weight loss).

Still other musical numbers remind us of recurring characters, among them Chandler’s bray-of-a-laugh ex in “Oh. My. God. It’s Janice!,” Ross’s horny capuchin monkey pal Marcel in “I’m Gonna Hump U”  and Monica’s much older boyfriend in “About Richard.”

The better your memory (assuming you watched most or all of Friends’ 236 episodes), the more you will relish brief mentions of (or appearances by) Rachel’s Italian beau Paolo, Phoebe’s evil twin sister Ursula, and Ross’s Chinese-American girlfriend Julie (one of the rare instances where Friends went non-white). And those familiar with the show’s name guest stars will chuckle to hear their characters referred to as Hank Azaria, Brad Pitt, Paul Rudd, and (most amusingly) Tom Selleck.

Kirk Douglas Theatre regulars are forewarned that Friends! The Musical Parody is not part of the theater’s CTG season, nor are Josh Iacovelli’s rather barebones sets or the prerecorded tracks that stand in for a live band what you’d expect from tickets priced as high as they are for Equity-cast season offerings.

What Friends! The Musical Parody does have in its favor is a bright-futures-ahead triple-threat ensemble directed by Tim Drucker–Tyler Fromson (fresh out of Pepperdine) as Ross, Madison Fuller as Phoebe, Sami Griffith doing the evening’s most accurate impersonation as Rachel, Maggie McMeans as Monica, and Dominic Servidio as Joey, with Jenna Cormey showing up now and again as Central Perk barista Gunther, quite possibly the most successful extra-turned-recurring character in TV history.

Most fabulous of all is Aaron C. Rutherford, for whom Chandler is just the tip of a hilarious iceberg, the laugh-getter also showing up as Paulo, Ursula, Marcel, “Tom Selleck,” and (best of all) the one-and-only Janice.

Billy Griffith scores points for his lively choreography as do lighting designer Brian Tovar and sound designer Lauren Vargas, with top design honors shared by David Rigler for his character-perfect costumes and Dee Spencer for her equally spot-on wigs.

Casting is by Lindsay Brooks. Dance/vocal captain Cormey and Nick Palazzo are swings. Melanie Evans is company manager, Abby Powers is production manager, and Robert Michael Krantz is associate production manager.

If you’re one of the tens of millions who found themselves tuning in to Friends week after week, year after year, or if you ended up discovering it on DVD, or you’re watching it right now on Netflix, Friends! The Musical Parody provides moments of nostalgic fun assuming you’ve got the bucks.

Kirk Douglas Theatre, 9820 Washington Blvd., Culver City.
www.KirkDouglasTheatre.org
www.FriendsParodyOnTour.com

–Steven Stanley
July 17, 2019
Photos: Benjamin Skigen

Tags: Assaf Gleizner, Bob & Tobly McSmith, Kirk Douglas Theatre, Los Angeles Theater Review