By Alex Eichholz . . .
For a show that opens with the line “Prepare to be GOOPED!”, I was neither gooped nor gagged by Gwyneth Goes Skiing, which opened tonight at SoHo Playhouse. Written and directed by Linus Karp and Joseph Martin, this flurry of a play tells the ludicrous story of the actress Gwyneth Paltrow’s now-famous 2016 skiing accident that took place at Utah’s Deer Valley Resort and subsequent court case. Do you know about it? Do you care? It was all pretty silly (Dr. Terry Sanderson sued Paltrow for her crashing into him on the slopes and causing questionable injuries and she countersued stating he crashed into her). Authors Karp and Martin also portray Paltrow and Sanderson, with a made-up version of events that led up to the crash. It’s all high camp and wild imagination that also includes lip-synced songs, strobe-lit montages, and talking animal friends.
Yes, puppets are used.
The tone of the show is set before the actors even make their way onstage as crew members recruit people from the audience for participation in various roles and bits throughout the show. The evening that I attended, I was chosen to be the show’s “Lead Juror” (it involved speaking one line). Of course, shows that rely heavily on audience participation are rarely deemed dramatic masterpieces. Sure, you’re not supposed to take anything seriously when it’s irreverent comedy, but right out of the gate this show makes its intentions clear through joke lines like “You’re welcome gays” repeated to the point that they cease being funny. “Goop!”comes up repeatedly, referencing Paltrow’s personal health and wellness brand, shoved into every word combination imaginable. The inspiration drawn from Cole Escola is glaringly obvious as well. Karp’s take on Gwyneth Paltrow is akin to the characters Escola created in their early YouTube sketches using a similar deadpan humor and blasé attitude. It’s a fair place to start as inspiration but misguided in the attempt since replicating a craft so woven into another artist’s being is bound to fail. Niche, online humor might make for a good start but descends on a downhill slope, no pun intended. When the dominoes are lined up perfectly, referential jokes such as “Because we’re in Queer Media, Sandra!” land and get a roar from the audience, but the rest of the dominoes topple unsteadily. Many jokes fly completely over the audience’s heads with lines like “Show it to me Rachel – please. Unhhhh,” receiving no more than a few chuckles. These moments are especially hard to overlook as such trendy soundbites come and go in the span of weeks or even days and never break past the pop culture relevancy of Gen Z.
What is an already repetitive script is met with performances that scarcely elevate it. Both actors hit their peak early leaving nowhere to go. Joseph Martin’s Dr. Terry Sanderson gets quickly stuck in an “old grump” stereotype with the repeated shtick of him reminding the audience he’s an optometrist not an optician. Noattempt is made to fully flesh out the character within the confines of the sketch comedy world this play inhabits (Martin is also the co-author, so he can only blame himself). With the story based on real people and events, having to spend time with a pair of cartoon versions of them for two hours grows tiresome. Though by taking creative liberties with the facts, Linus Karl does get more wiggle room to portray this version of Gwyneth Paltrow for camp comedy. When not promoting the Goop! brand, or appeasing audiences a generation younger through Twitter references, Karp’s Paltrow elicits a dry charm which at least gives ussomeone worth rooting for. With more pop culture material to work with than what Martin gets to play as Dr. Sanderson, Karp doesn’t feel as repetitive. There is even a whiff of growth in the relationships with Paltrow’s husband Brad Falchuk and daughter Apple (one played by an audience volunteer and the other by an actual apple). Karp’s performance does manage to entertain. There’s full-on commitment, which is something to be applauded.
At best, Gwyneth Goes Skiing is an okay executed college-level theatre piece or an overly drawn-out SNL sketch (although one most probably slotted at 12:50 a.m). The few things it does well, it nails, yet unfortunately much is left to be desired. But if you’re looking to get out of your apartment and have a few laughswith some like-minded people, you can do far worse than wander into the SoHo Playhouse for some trashy fun.
Gwyneth Goes Skiing is at the SoHo Playhouse, 15 Van Dam Street, NYC in a limited engagement through November 16th. For further information, please visit: https://www.sohoplayhouse.com/see-a-show/gwyneth-goes-skiing
Photos by Anna Clare.
Headline photo: Linus Karp as Gwyneth Paltrow.
