{"id":245083,"date":"2012-05-25T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-05-25T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/nobody-loves-you\/"},"modified":"2012-05-25T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2012-05-25T07:00:00","slug":"nobody-loves-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/nobody-loves-you\/","title":{"rendered":"Nobody Loves You"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Patricia Morris Buckley | SDUN Theater Critic<\/strong> \"Nobody<\/p>\n

Usually, reality shows are not the best way to get a date in a romantic mood. \u201cNobody Loves You,\u201d a new musical premiering at the Old Globe Theatre, is the exception to the rule. <\/p>\n

This eight-person show is not-too-sweet, wildly entertaining and filled with catchy tunes. It also tries to sneak in commentary about reality TV, but never goes deep enough to make any lasting statement. The only criticism that digs below the layers of reality show nonsense is the lyric, \u201c being famous feels like love.\u201d Kim Kardashian, with her lightning short marriage, would probably agree.<\/p>\n

The story opens with the breakup of Ph.D. candidate Jeff and his live-in love Tanya, who are obviously mismatched. The trouble comes to a head when she wants Jeff to watch the reality show \u201cNobody Loves You\u201d and he refuses with biting sarcasm. To get Tanya back, he decides to go on the show after hearing she auditioned.<\/p>\n

Selected for his dismissive wit, Jeff discovers Tanya turned down the show because she has a new guy. Still, he sees his participation as an opportunity to work on his doctoral thesis on the difference between reality and fiction. <\/p>\n

\u201cNobody Loves You\u201d borrows haphazardly from a number of reality shows in such a way it could never really work as a game show, but that doesn\u2019t make it any less hilarious or supercilious. The parody is done with such razor-like precision that it slices through our disbelief.<\/p>\n

The excellent cast goes far in selling the premise. Heath Calvert plays the role of reality show host Byron with just the right mix of pretentiousness, piled on charm and barely contained professionalism.<\/p>\n

Adam Cantor is the acerbic Jeff; the one who grows the most, yet never truly changes. Cantor nicely balances the character\u2019s witty insights and the emotional blindness. As his potential love interest Jenny, Jenni Barber fights hard to make a milk toast character interesting, which is essential for the show to work. We have to believe these two are really falling for each other, and not for fame, which Cantor and Barber certainly do.<\/p>\n

Alex Brightman, one actor who plays three roles, practically steals the show. It helps that he\u2019s given the best tune, \u201cThe Twitter Song,\u201d which has not yet escaped the soundtrack in my head. Nicole Lewis is also convincing in her three roles, including that of Tanya. <\/p>\n

Gaby Alter and Itamar Moses (the latter once served as playwright-in-residence at The Globe) crafted a fun show that flows seamlessly. The characters are interesting, the conflict quite modern in flavor and the songs are traditional theater fare with an updated flare. Michelle Tattenbaum\u2019s direction keeps the story from being too saccharin sweet, but warm enough to be endearing. <\/p>\n

I only have one major quibble with the plot. One pair on the reality show is Christian (who is a Christian) and Megan. Megan admits to being an alcoholic and Christian tells her he doesn\u2019t like it \u2013 but takes her back without any promise that she will get help. Even in the fiction of reality TV, I don\u2019t see that happening. If she at one point agreed to even think about getting help, it would be a less bitter pill to swallow. <\/p>\n

As usual, The Old Globe\u2019s designs elements are well done. Mandy Moore\u2019s choreography is sharp. Michael Schweikardt\u2019s set made the in-the-round stage work. Emily Pepper\u2019s costumes and Tyler Micoleau\u2019s lights heighten the play\u2019s mood. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s odd to tell someone to see a play about heartbreak, nationally aired embarrassment and reality shows as entertainment. But \u201cNobody Loves You\u201d turns out to be a great date show. In fact, the title should be \u201cEveryone Loves You.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Patricia Morris Buckley | SDUN Theater Critic Usually, reality shows are not the best way to get a date in a romantic mood. \u201cNobody Loves You,\u201d a new musical premiering at the Old Globe Theatre, is the exception to the rule. This eight-person show is not-too-sweet, wildly entertaining and filled with catchy tunes. It […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1295,"featured_media":245084,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"Nobody Loves You","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11547,11551,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-245083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-features","category-news","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1295"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245083"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245083\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}