Moose & Darlene's Cosmic Do-Over

comedy · not at all made up productions · Ages 13+ · United States of America

world premiere
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Review by DAVID MACDOWELL BLUE

June 13, 2018 certified reviewer

What I liked

The idea as well as the use of media.

What I didn't like

A lot, but one thing that stuck out immediately was the poor quality of the fight scene right at the top of the play—this telegraphed instantly this was not going to be top quality or anywhere near.

My overall impression

Imagine if you will a nihilistic, time travel comedy that also qualifies (barely) as a rom-com. This describes pretty well what Moose and Darlene’s Cosmic Do-Over tries to accomplish. Does it succeed? Well, not quite. The show has some real charm to it, poses an interesting situation and resolution, seeks to find humor in some truly dark situations (like committing multiple murders in hopes of saving the world by changing the timeline). All well and good! I loved The Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy, Dr. Strangelove and indeed Red Dwarf as well as Life of Brian. But to genuinely work, this sort of thing demands careful world building and characters we get to know very well. At less than an hour, methinks this show bites off more than it has the time with which to chew. To be honest, other than that it stumbles quite a bit as well—the chemistry between the cast members seems barely existent, but then they have little enough to build upon. For one thing, the darkness of the situation needs some serious exposure and with it the comic absurdity needs developing. In other words, more existential horror and lots more laughs.

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