Wolfe announced this past week that director Issac Rentz’s musical
comedy, Opening Night, will be making its DVD debut on Aug. 1.
Nick (Topher Grace — as Eric from That ’70s Show, plus such
films as Spider-Man 3, Valentine's Day, Predators, etc.) once was a
promising Broadway star, but now he stays in the game — the Broadway game — by
being the production manager of an about-to-open Broadway musical by the name
of “One Hit Wonderland.” A nicely timed
opening sequence sets all of this up … and then we arrived at the theatre and a
world of backstage chaos, where the story-within-the-story unfolds.
The show has a chance to succeed (one-hit wonders are strung
together to tell a story of promise and missed opportunities), but events
leading up to the premiere seem to suggest that it will all be for naught.
The lead singers are JC (played by real-life NSYNC recording
star JC Chasez) and Brooke (Anne Heche), but disaster strikes when Brooke is
knocked unconscious by a chopstick! Well, it was actually a giant prop chopstick and Ron (played by comedian
Paul Scheer), the prop manager, whacked her upside the head (think: baseball
bat) and now she’s very much out of action (and every time she gets close to
recovering some new accident occurs).
In the grand tradition of Broadway, the show must go on, so
Chloe (Alona Tal), the understudy is given the news. Chloe is Nick’s former girlfriend (lover),
with the “former” part being the result of having an affair with JC … this only
adds to the chaos.
Others in the cast include Nick’s best friend Malcolm
(played by Taye Diggs), an ego-centric dancer, who serves as something of a
sounding board for Nick to vent his frustrations (and move the very busy plot elements
along) and Goldmeyer (Rob Riggle), the often oblivious-to-events-unfolding
producer of the show.
The dialog is terrific, the production zips along and the
musical-within-a-musical conceit works like a charm! In short, this “opening night” is one for the
ages!
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