THEATER
When a Pro Becomes a Con
Privileged white guy finds himself a reviled minority
BY DAVID KENNERLEY
Growing up in affl uent
Sussex County, New
Jersey, Rich Roy had
a cushy life. He spent
weekends playing golf and got a
Camaro when he was 17. At age
19, he became a pro boxer mentored
by Muhammad Ali, and later
a thriving actor sharing the stage
with Denzel Washington. He freely
admits being “born a privileged
white man.”
But one night in his 20s his
luck ran out, and he found himself
locked up in a holding cell with a
cement fl oor that was covered in
piss and excrement. Eventually
he was shipped to the correctional
facility at Rikers Island, which
was 92 percent black and Latinx,
where his “melanin-deprived”
country club good looks made him
a target. He was brutalized regularly.
For the fi rst time in his life,
An Immigrant Story Oddly Off Key
Goofy tuner about spies, newcomers, the American Dream
BY DAVID KENNERLEY
A few years ago, when Jamie
Jackson and SoHee
Youn set out to write a
musical comedy about
pesky Russian spies and foreigners
vying for a piece of the American
Dream in New York, they had no
way of knowing that the heinous
treatment of immigrants by the US
government would come to dominate
the news cycle. Or that Russia
would be accused of swaying
the calamitous 2016 presidential
election and re-emerge as a dire
threat to American democracy.
And yet, despite an extensive
workshop process, “I Spy A Spy”
insists on taking a broad, almost
puerile approach to the material,
traffi cking in overworn tropes and
stereotypes. The Russian characters,
part of a spy ring to take down
Connor Chase Stewart in the title role in Rich Roy and Eric C. Webb’s “A White Man’s Guide to Rikers
Island.”
he learned what it was like to be a
powerless minority.
The crime? A DUI — shots of
Jack Daniels supercharged with
America, have code names like
Cold Borscht and Beef Stroganoff
and speak in ludicrous accents.
One US offi cial is named Agent Orange
and the guns they brandish
are neon-hued water pistols.
The current political landscape
calls for a shrewd, incisive satire à
la “Avenue Q,” but this feels more
like that 1960s cartoon where
Rocky and Bullwinkle thwart Russian
villains Boris and Natasha.
This unfunny, lightweight tuner is
utterly tone deaf.
Even the press materials describe
the twisty plot as “preposterous.”
The action revolves around
would-be lovers José Rodriguez,
an undocumented immigrant from
Mexico who dreams of being a famous
actor, and Alina Orlova, an
inept spy from Moscow torn between
pleasing her father by sticking
with the spy biz and fi nding
JACOB GOLDBERG
a pile of coke — that resulted in
the death of a young motorcyclist.
One momentary lapse in judgment
caused his life to spin horribly out
her true calling.
There’s a parallel simmering
romance between Abdul Mahkdoom
(Sorab Wadia), who runs a
Pakistani pizza joint, and his rival
Sunny Park (Hazel Anne Raymundo),
who owns the Korean grocery
across the street. They spend much
of their day spying on each other
with binoculars. Is it because they
want to discover trade secrets or
are they just infatuated with one
another? Who cares?
Swirling subplots involve a ruthless
Mexican Mafi osa who menaces
José, a “Face of New York” contest
held by a bigoted mayor, Department
of Homeland Security staff,
a Russian hacker from the dark
web, and a slew of other characters
impossible to track. Even Jimmy
Fallon makes a brief appearance.
The dialogue is freighted with
superfl uous expository details.
of control.
Roy’s experience was so traumatic
that he was compelled to
write a theater piece titled “A White
Man’s Guide to Rikers Island” (with
an assist from Eric C. Webb) as a
form of catharsis.
The title is also the name of the
tongue-in-cheek column he wrote
for the prison newspaper, which
proved a big hit with inmates of
every stripe.
This extraordinary triumph of
storytelling, now at the Producers
Club theater, is a solo show
of sorts where, for the bulk of the
90-minute proceedings, Connor
Chase Stewart plays young Roy,
recounting in gut-wrenching, lurid
detail the story of how he landed
in and survived one of America’s
most notorious prisons. His turn
is bookended by none other than
Rich Roy himself, who delivers
➤ WHITE GUY’S GUIDE, continued on p.27
The two and a half hour running
time could easily be trimmed to
streamline the plot.
That’s not to say there aren’t
some clever touches. The vibrant,
pastel colored set of an urban landscape,
by James Morgan, is pleasing
to the eye. Any New Yorker will
appreciate the detailed posters advertising
Shen Yun or Dan Smith
the guitar teacher. What’s more,
the bulk of “I Spy A Spy” is set
in the heart of present-day Hell’s
Kitchen, only steps away from the
Theatre at St. Clement’s where the
work is making its Off Broadway
debut. What keeps this wobbly
endeavor from careening off the
rails are key performances, under
the direction of Bill Castellino
(who also choreographed). Andrew
Mayer is tenderly affecting as the
➤ I SPY A SPY, continued on p.27
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