The Loser’s Lounge is a conglomerate of talented downtown musicians who have been packing Fez for the past decade with tribute shows to groups like the Beach Boys, XTC, and Queen. From that scene now comes the energetic musical People Are Wrong!, playing through December 11 at the Vineyard. The plot is nouveau Rocky Horror—a naïve young couple, one half of which is played by John Flansburgh of the band They Might Be Giants (his wife, Robin Goldwasser, co-wrote the show), wanders into a compelling new world. Except the castle is a weekend home in the Catskills (the couple is “totally psyched about reverse commuting”) and Frank N. Furter is a landscaping cult leader named Xanthus.
David Herskovits’ winning ADD-ish direction and an enthusiastic ensemble give the show a kooky charm. But the plot and characters seem merely to facilitate the music. With 30 songs packed into 105 minutes, the musical feels like a tribute show to a band that doesn’t exist.
People Are Wrong!
By Robin Goldwasser and Julia Greenberg
At The Vineyard Theatre