Oscar E Moore

Why?  Why would anyone in their right mind pay good money as opposed to the bad money reaped in by Enron to see a bloated, over produced, padded, gimmicky show called ENRON with a cast of odious characters with no redeeming or likable features whatsoever? 

A highly toted, award winning British import, written by Lucy Prebble which attempts to document but hardly enlighten the biggest bankruptcy in corporate America with ironic humor, tasteless fun, complicated fraudulent financial explanations with primal/tribal music, debt eating dinosaurs, some rhythmic movement, a puppet and various and assorted other tricks that director Rupert Goold has come up with including Siamese Lehman Brothers and thee blind mice (or are they rats?) to enhance this sordid tale of greed and corruption.

A tale that should not be in any way glorified.  A tale where hundreds of employees lost everything after being hoodwinked into investing by those oh so smart crooks in the company and stupid impressionable stock annalists.  Employees told the boldest of lies – lies to the bitter end – that they where investing in their future – when all they were doing was raising the price of Enron’s stock so that Ken Lay (Gregory Itzin), Andy Fastow CFO (Stephen Kunken – whose name should be Andy Fast One) and others could take huge bonuses while the company tanked.  How amusing it is to see them all pulling a fast one!  Ha! Ha!  Could it be that the British are also pulling a fast one on us?

We all know the sordid story.  No need to remind us.  Worse has happened since.

Claudia Roe (Marin Mazzie) is introduced on a corporate desk with her legs in the air, her red thong on the floor and Jeffrey Skilling (Norbert Leo Butz) pulling out.  She knew how to get ahead by giving good head it’s revealed.  He labors hard here.  To no avail.

And so the story unfolds and you want to get up from your seat and scream “I’ve had enough and won’t take it any more.”

The London Telegraph called ENRON “a fantastic firecracker of a play.”  Well, this firecracker fizzles at the Broadhurst Theatre.

www.EnronBroadway.com    Photo:  Joan Marcus

Tags:   Lucy Prebble · Marin Mazzie · Norbert Leo Butz · Rupert GooldNo Comments