We all know milk does a body good, but does a play about four confused and horny people make for wholesome entertainment? Does the Body Good tracks the stories of two seemingly unrelated couples. We start with a down-on-his-luck milkman. On his first day at the job, a housewife plants a big, calcium-fortified kiss on him. The majesty of this kiss is such that it prompts him to break up with his fiancée, in the hopes that he and the housewife (whose name he doesn't even know) can someday be together.
Meanwhile, another story unfolds on the other side of the stage. Mr. Harrison is a junior high school teacher locked in an unhappy marriage. He is having an affair with a young, but precocious student. When he refuses to declare his love for her, she threatens to tell everyone about the affair.
For a performance like this to be successful, each half of the story has to carry equal weight. Unfortunately, this is not the case. The milkman story, which should be charged with erotic tension, falls flat. Olivia Henderson gives a shiftless performance as the housewife and you never quite buy the milkman's, played by Vince Eisenson, longing for her.
Fortunately, the other half of the play features a pair of fine performances. Ros Schwartz, who plays Quinnie, the lusty and precocious student, does a great job in a difficult role. You even believe her when she says things like, "I love your cute masculine whisper." Patrick Link, who also wrote and produced the play, is impressive as a teacher lost in lust in confusion, wondering whether his uninspiring marriage is worth saving.
It was Link's goal "to present four dangerously lost characters as they make the most basic possible decisions about what to do with their lives." Unfortunately, a sense of danger only permeates half the performance. In the other half, once the novelty of the kiss wears off, we're left with nothing but a milk mustache.
