(L-R) Steven Kunken as Stu, Morena Baccarin as Jennifer, Christopher Evan Welch as Wes, Hayes Thigpen as Vince and Jeremy Strong as Merv in Theresa Rebeck's new show "Our House." (Joan Marcus)
Containing elements from such movies as "Broadcast News" and "Network," Rebeck tries to go for the jugular with some pointed comments about how the line between reality television and hard news is increasingly blurred.
As the hard-charging head of a broadcast network, Wes (Christopher Evan Welch) lives by the bottom-line and is constantly looking for new ways to make money for his operation. The chief bane of his existence is the news division, a continually money-losing proposition.
In an effort to boost ratings, he has Jennifer (Morena Baccarin), a sexy and ambitious morning news anchor, also become the host of the network's hot reality show, "Our House." Wes soon takes his idea a step further by having Jennifer give daily updates about the reality program as part of the morning news—despite concerns by Stu (Stephen Kunken), the network's legal advisor, that these actions are costing both the network and Jennifer their journalistic integrity.
At the same time, a parallel story is playing out concerning four roommates, two of whom are in conflict. Merv, basically a do-nothing, couch potato (wonderfully played by Jeremy Strong), has absolutely no respect for anyone's personal boundaries. This is particularly grating to the high-strung Alice (Katie Kreisler) who is responsible for running the house and making sure everyone does their fair share.
When Alice finally calls a house meeting and, after some discussions with roommates Grigsby (Mandy Siegfried) and Vince (Haynes Thigpen), Merv is put on notice to clean up his act or get out. Merv calmly walks away, returns with a gun, shoots Alice and Grigsby, and then demands a meeting with Jennifer, with whom he has become infatuated during his continual TV watching, before he’ll let the others go.
Jennifer and Wes, seeing a chance for huge audience numbers, convince the local authorities to let Jennifer see Merv.
Once inside, Jennifer takes immediate control, milking the situation for all it's worth, conducting a live television interview with Merv while the severely wounded hostages wait.
Rebeck gets off some good zingers about how society has become a bunch of TV-reality junkies, vicariously living out their lives through other people's experiences. Nonetheless, just about everything covered is old ground.
There's also the fact that the script gives Jennifer no compelling reason for her intervention.
Finally, the show's ending, which is basically a rant about the evils of television and how some people conspire to use the medium for their own ends, delivers nothing fresh or insightful.
Welch is true to form as a harried network executive obsessed with taking his network to the ratings gold, no matter what.
Baccarin is nicely appealing as Jennifer—on the surface a sexy woman who slept her way to the top—but with a spine of steel and a cunning brain beneath the makeup and clothes. (Woe to all who underestimate her.)
The acting high point is Strong who, in Merv, reminds one of just about every annoying person who's ever been on a reality show. He's one of those people you'd love to see eliminated, but more often then not (as Merv does here) is able to foist the blame onto others and stay around longer than expected.
Kreisler is fun as the short-fused Alice, who one can really sympathize with, even as it becomes obvious she really isn't much of a people person. Kunken is good as the sole voice of sanity at the network, and the only one with the guts to stand up to Wes. Siegfried and Thigpen also work well.
Michael Mayer's direction is fine, keeping the action moving smoothly and doing enough crosscutting between the two story lines to achieve maximum effect. The sets by Derek McLane (especially the one of the roommates' home) are okay.
Our House is not a bad play by any means, but the overall message of the show feels a bit "15 minutes ago" in this era of 24-hour news, widespread Internet access, and endless blogging.
Our House
Playwrights Horizons Mainstage Theater
416 West 42nd Street
Tickets: 212-279-4200 or www.playwrightshorizons.org
Running Time: 2 hours
Closes: June 21
Judd Hollander is the New York correspondent for the London publication, The Stage.
