Talkin Broadway Review LIKE LOVE

      Like Love Theatre Reviews by Matthew Murray Like Love Summer may be officially over, but any New Yorker knows that doesn’t mean the heat is necessarily gone for good. In the case of Like Love, playing as part of the New York Musical Theatre Festival, things are just now getting cranked up. The opening scene of this new musical by Barry Jay Kaplan (book and lyrics) and Lewis Flinn (music) is as steamy as it gets, and if things do cool off later, the show still makes for a hot 75 minutes. An inversion of the traditional notion that people first fall in love and then have sex, Like Love centers on a man and a woman who hook up in a hotel room and then are challenged (or maybe cursed) with figuring out their feelings for each other. What starts as a strict deal for sex-only afternoons (including a deal-breaker rule against questions about such bothersome things as jobs, friends, or especially names) takes a darker turn as both He (Jon Patrick Walker) and She (Emily Swallow) become increasingly tangled in the no-strings partnering being overseen, not always helpfully, by Love herself (Danielle Ferland). Like Love, which has been skillfully if sparely directed by Lisa Rothe, is at its best when focusing on the myriad ways men and women deceive each other, and themselves. He and She end their initial discussion by signing their agreement with a pulsing and funny chronology of how sex ebbs and flows in relationships; a four-way conversation at their ensuing relationship’s lowest point masterfully mines the differing break-up aesthetics of both genders, using an impressively small number of words. Only near the end, when He and She sift through their emotions with degenerative, heart-searching solos, does convention creep in and start assuming control, and not for the better. But the score is for the most part a smoky delight. Drenched in jazz, blues, and whiskey, and played suavely on the piano by musical director Brad Simmons, the numbers find both the hard edges and soft centers of contemporary dating and mating without ever becoming syrupy. These highly cynical songs have the perfect sound for our cynical age, with even Love eschewing traditional ballads in favor of questioning melodies and lyrics seldom willing to promise more than that “Love is coming... soon.” Ferland is a fine embodiment of her, both fiery and refined, with a playful streak that reminds - just a little - of her little-girl-lost stint as Red Riding Hood in Into the Woods 20 years ago. Walker and Swallow bring sophisticated sexiness to He and She, and have a bubbling chemistry together that generates all the right reactions in the mostly right Like Love. If Kaplan and Flinn give in to their romantic inclinations before anyone in this musical ménage a trois is fully ready, they’ve still come up with a sultry, spicy show that holds out longer, and runs hotter, than most. Venue: TBG Theater, 312 West 36th Street between 8th and 9th Avenues Schedule: Sunday, Sep 23rd at 4:30 pm Wednesday, Sep 26th at 8:00 pm Friday, Sep 28th at 8:00 pm Wednesday, Oct 3rd at 4:30 pm Tickets online NYMF.org