Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – THE OTHER JOSH COHEN is a teddy bear of a musical

• By drediman
• January 5, 2019
• No Comments

David Rossmer and Steve Rosen Caitlin in their “The Other Josh Cohen” at the Westside Theatre (Downstairs). Photo by Caitlin McNaney.

Before I launch into my review, I’d like to say that despite any of the show’s shortcomings, the bottom line is that The Other Josh Cohen is a complete teddy bear of a musical – it’s accessible, comforting, and adorable. After creators Steve Rosen and David Rossmer premiered their semi-autobiographical show in 2012 at the Soho Playhouse, it also played the respectable (but much too large) Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, New Jersey, before returning Off-Broadway for a four-month run at the Westside Theatre (where it’s currently playing).

Although the musical can’t help being somewhat clichéd and even dated – 2012 seems like a lifetime ago, personally and politically – there are considerable charms to be enjoyed and lessons to be learned from this often times hilarious modern-day, New York-set retelling of the Bible’s Job tale. If you surrender to its cartoonish aesthetics and set aside the agreeable but slightly cloying and derivative score (otherwise played wonderfully by an onstage band, who fabulously double as miscellaneous characters), you’ll find that Mr. Rosen and Mr. Rossmer have given the piece a rather large heart – which, at the end of the day, is what really matters.

Lucky for us, Mr. Rosen and Mr. Rossmer have stayed with the show sharing the title character through the years, and their intimacy and love of the piece is clearer now than ever. I would even go far as to say that its a welcome balm in this age of Trumpian cynicism, which has particularly permeated the performing arts scene, at least here in New York. Also, director Hunter Foster (a very fine musical theater performer himself) has given The Other Josh Cohen a zippy but complete staging that feels right at home at the intimate downstairs venue of the Westside, in my opinion the perfect space for this little but lovable musical.

RECOMMENDED

THE OTHER JOSH COHEN
Off-Broadway, Musical
Westside Theatre Downstairs
1 hour, 30  minutes (without an intermission)
Through February 24