The Chocolate Show
Opening Night: February 1, 2014
Closing: April 6, 2014
Theater: 47th Street Theatre
On the final night of her reign as World Queen of the Cocoa Bean, the glamorous and eccentric Cookie Conwell fulfills her lifelong dream of hosting The Chocolate Show!, where she must choose her successor. Who will be the next to wear the solid chocolate crown? How will Cookie handle the transfer of power? And, oh yeah, is chocolate really bad for dogs? These pressing questions and more are answered in this 90-minute mouth-watering musical comedy celebrating the world’s favorite obsession. Join Cookie and the fabulous Chocolate Layer Players for this delicious theatrical event filled with catchy songs, hilarious comedy sketches, infectious dancing, audience participation (volunteer-only) and lots of chocolate!
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February 14, 2014
Song, dance, and chocolate can be a recipe for fun theater, and The Chocolate Show!, directed by Dan Foster at the 47th Street Theatre, has all those ingredients and more. But while chocoholic tweens might describe this candy-themed musical as truly scrumptious, those with a passing affection for the confection might find the 90-minute revue a bit cloying.
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February 11, 2014
“On the final night of her reign as World Queen of the Cocoa Bean, the glamorous and eccentric Cookie Conwell fulfills her lifelong dream of hosting The Chocolate Show! where she must choose her successor. Who will be the next to wear the solid chocolate crown?” So reads the synopsis of this new (slightly) Off-Broadway musical. While scaled down for this production, the show feels like it has the makings of a full-blown Broadway musical, with wonderful talent and great music, direction, and choreography.
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March 5, 2014
Like one of those artisanal candies that combines too many disparate ingredients, The Chocolate Show! doesn’t know what it wants to be. Is it an interactive comedy about Cookie Conwell (cabaret stalwart Emily McNamara), who’s reluctantly passing on her World Queen of the Cocoa Bean crown to one of the hungry contestants pulled from the audience? Or is it a musical revue of mostly vanilla songs about sweets? Or perhaps it’s a campy history lesson about the evolution of chocolate, because yes, that’s mixed in there, too.
READ THE REVIEWFebruary 14, 2014
Let’s clear up one thing, straight off: The Chocolate Show, the new musical at the 47th Street Theatre, is about chocolate. It is not a metaphor. You may be tempted to flirt with the notion that Alan Golub (book, music, and lyrics) and Laura Goldfader (music) have written a scathing examination of the dangers of obsession, or a vicious satire on nutritionally minded nanny-staters. No. No no no. It’s about chocolate. The sweet (semi- or bitter-, take your pick) brown, occasionally white, stuff you unwrap and eat, or occasionally bake chips of into cookies. That’s it. Really.
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March 5, 2014
At first, I thought the fix was in. As my 10-year-old daughter ascended the stage to claim the crown as winner of "The Chocolate Show!", the cynical journalist in me battled with the loving father: Did she triumph because someone in the production knew I was a reviewer, or because she deserved the prize? If the choice was genuine (it seemed so, and a publicist later assured me that it was), I can praise the judgment of the cast members. Still, I can’t always recommend their musical. A 90-minute celebration of chocolate, this single-minded show parks on its topic and stays put. The first ode to the confection sounds a lot like the next one and the one after that, and the mildly amusing jokes prompt slight grins rather than real laughs.
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