You’ve seen Elaine Benes do that before—on Seinfeld. In the parody Singfeld! she’s played by Jenna Cormey, with Landon Zwick (center) as Jerry and Jacob Millman as George.
Brothers Bob and Tobly McSmith have created a cottage industry of musicals based—unauthorized, they always make it clear—on popular movies and TV shows of the past 30 years. They even have a cottage for their industry: the Theater Center at 50th and Broadway, where their new show Singfeld! A Musical Parody About Nothing has joined The Office! The Musical Parody and Friends: The Musical Parody in repertory.
With its countless catchphrases, nine seasons worth of paramours for all four main characters, and many running jokes, recurring characters and plot absurdities, Seinfeld offers much fodder for parody. Singfeld! references plenty of them, frequently as throwaway lines not integral to whatever scene they’re in. This is not cutting parody that really zeroes in on the source material’s tropes and foibles (as, for instance, Forbidden Broadway usually did). It’s a not-to-be-overthought lark with actors imitating Jerry, George, Elaine and Kramer and dropping in references from the sitcom—which could be entertaining enough for certain audiences.
Millman (right) does double duty as Newman, nemesis of Jerry (Zwick, left).
Singfeld! may actually be more a parody of musicals, both its conventions in general and specific songs (“Another Hundred People” and “Hakuna Matata” are among the show tunes mimicked in the score). Per the plot, Jerry and George decide to write a Broadway musical. At first they say it’s going to be a musical about nothing, but later it becomes about the Bubble Boy.
This seems to plop the characters into a scenario that not only would they never be in, they likely would mock (fans may recall the sitcom’s treatment of faux musicals Rochelle, Rochelle and Scarsdale Surprise). And Kramer, who in Singfeld! gets in on the musical writing, on Seinfeld rarely pursued anything so “normal”—his endless ideas for new professional endeavors always sounded ludicrously unfeasible.
Some other things in Singfeld! clash with the Seinfeld universe as we know it, like the subtext that Jerry and Elaine are secretly in love with each other—a violation of the sitcom creators’ famous “no hugging, no learning” ethos. There’s also a good bit of potty humor in Singfeld!, though I don’t remember a single fart joke in 180 episodes of Seinfeld. When Singfeld! gets to the “master of my domain” contest, it runs through a bunch of coarse euphemisms for masturbation—yet the genius of the original episode was that it never once said the word, or even a synonym. And the door, kitchen counter and other things in Jerry’s apartment are in the wrong place on the Singfeld! set.
“Some things in “Singfeld!” clash with the “Seinfeld” universe as we know it, like the subtext that Jerry and Elaine are secretly in love with each other.”
It may seem silly to criticize a spoof of fictional characters for not being realistic, but the best parody doesn’t alter source material; rather, it targets specific aspects of it for exaggeration or mockery. The Singfeld! song “The Women” does this, taking aim at the long parade of vaguely indistinguishable girlfriends (and picayune reasons for breaking up) Jerry had. Similarly, various lines of dialogue nail the sitcom’s tone and ridiculousness, like when George says he had to get out of his house because “my mother has been doing aerobics, and my father has been screaming at the weather again,” or when Kramer asks to borrow “a handful of dish soap.” Jokes about answering machines and dial-up Internet hit at Seinfeld’s very ’90s sensibilities, which seem comical at this point.
Singfeld! is helped along by some on-point impersonations. Jacob Millman looks amazingly like Jason Alexander as George (except he’s not bald) and replicates his mannerisms, too. Jenna Cormey, a veteran of McSmith shows, does well by Julia Louis-Dreyfus’s Elaine—especially her hilariously horrible dancing—and her costume perfectly matches Elaine’s early-seasons typical outfit of blazer over a flowery dress, white anklets with black pumps, hair held back by both barrette and ponytail holder.
Zwick and Cormey as Jerry and Elaine in Singfeld! Photographs by Russ Rowland.
As Jerry, Landon Zwick is saddled with an unfortunate wig, and possibly a few too many “What’s the deal with...?” lines. Matthew Ruehlman gets Kramer’s blithe expression, but why is he a redhead? The supporting characters, many played by Mike Kizner, are a mixed bag—Kizner and Cormey do an excellent Mr. and Mrs. Costanza; his version of George’s doomed fiancée Susan, not so great. And maybe rather than Bania, whose story lines in Seinfeld weren’t that memorable, Singfeld! could have included a more amusing recurring character, like Tim Whatley or Uncle Leo.
Any of these criticisms, however, are not in the spirit of the show—which is to kick back and have fun with this riff, inelegant as it may be, on an iconic piece of pop culture. Maybe while sipping a Festivus Pole cocktail or Junior Mint Martini from the lobby bar.
Singfeld! A Musical Parody About Nothing is playing at the Theater Center’s Jerry Orbach Theater (210 W. 50th St.). Evening performances are at 7:30 p.m. Monday and Wednesday, 6:30 p.m. Saturday and 8:30 p.m. Sunday; matinees are at 2 p.m. Wednesday. For tickets and more information, visit singfeld.com.
Book: Bob and Tobly McSmith
Lyrics: Bob and Tobly McSmith
Music: Billy Recce
Director: Marc David Wright
Sets: Elena Vannoni
Costumes: Ellie Ryan
Lighting: Ryan Barto
Sound: Alex Yedida
