Jeff, our illustrious hero, just isn’t what you’d name tailor made for actuality tv stardom.
He’s a philosophy wonk drifting round trying to find a dissertation subject. When he finds one, it’s a topic he’s extra inclined to deride.
His girlfriend Tanya is the polar reverse. She adores the hit actuality relationship present “Nobody Loves You,” named after the merciless goodbye uttered on the casted-off loser on the finish of every episode.
However as an alternative of giving sport reveals a good probability, Jeff’s derisive method to trash TV finally loses him his girlfriend, and shortly sufficient, his dignity.
He winds up on a TV relationship present in an try and win Tanya again. He does certainly discover a love connection, however not the one was anticipating.
That’s the premise of the comedic musical “Nobody Loves You,” American Conservatory Theater’s newest manufacturing that performs on the Toni Rembe Theater in San Francisco by way of March 30.
The present by Itamar Moses (e-book) and Gaby Alter (music) serves up stomach laughs galore, in addition to some critical commentary.
As soon as upon a time, love blossomed when individuals looked for companionship in parks, dances or from probability encounters. Espresso outlets, a pleasant dinner, perhaps a late-night film had been frequent entries into a lifetime of romantic substance with a found soul mate.
These days, passions are sometimes discovered on prime-time tv. Tight digital camera pictures concentrate on the scene as roses are dispersed and tears are shed for these watching from their residing rooms. What’s much more enjoyable are the roseless denizens, these pathetic of us who actually believed that they’d discovered a connection not like something they’ve ever skilled. They’ll have loads of time to mirror on what went fallacious on their strategy to the airport.
There’s one thing about actuality tv relationship reveals that caught the attention of Moses and Alter, two mates who grew up collectively in Berkeley and whose fathers had been professors on the College of California.
Whereas actuality tv is the leaping off level, the present has rather more to say about social media, the convenience with which one can create a deceptive narrative, and our societal function in filtering truths that could be unflattering.
“If you’re not on a television show, then you’re performing or creating a kind of narrative with social media and dating apps,” stated Moses, who received the very best e-book of a musical Tony Award for “The Band’s Visit” in 2018. “There’s a struggle for people to connect authentically within this kind of universe where there’s all this performance going on, so even though our show is set in a reality television world, it’s really about these bigger issues that everyone has.”
Regardless of participating together with his share of those actuality reveals, Alter doesn’t have lots of consideration span for them. Paradoxically, the reveals weren’t even on his tv a lot in the course of the present’s world premiere at San Diego’s The Outdated Globe in 2012. He finally discovered his manner in the direction of among the extra widespread titles in 2020.
“In those first years when we were writing I never really dove into a reality show, but probably during the pandemic, I watched a lot of ‘Love Island’ and a bunch of ‘90 Day Fiance,’” Alter stated, “So I got a better sense of what’s going on and how they hook you. People act in very bizarre ways, and there does seem to be a lot at stake when they form these relationships on camera.”
Authenticity is a phrase that actuality reveals wrestle to parallel with. Actuality tv usually options topics who couldn’t be thought-about actors or performers, however the hook is how contributors will be framed by slick modifying to show arduous narratives concerning the topics. Moses sees how heroes and villains are crafted by storytellers and producers, which isn’t distinctive to essentially the most historic parts of theater arts.
“The concept of high or low entertainment isn’t alien to the theater,” Moses stated. “If you go back to ancient Greek theater or Italian art forms like Commedia Dell’arte, they traffic in the same archetypes as reality television, and that’s why it works. Our show really leans into that.”
Whereas the present admittedly takes a sure inspiration from “The Bachelor,” TV’s iconic relationship present., Moses insists that their present just isn’t solely a re-creation of the hit sequence. They’re aiming to make an even bigger level with hefty laughs.
“Specifically, we invented a fake reality show that doesn’t exist, that is also completely heightened and absurd in the way that it turns up the dial on all the stuff these reality shows do,” Moses stated. “I will say in the decades since we did the first production of the show, reality television has caught up to our imaginations in its absurdity, and it’s getting harder to stay ahead of the stuff.”
David John Chávez is chair of the American Theatre Critics/Journalists Affiliation and a two-time juror for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama (‘22-‘23); @davidjchavez.bsky.social.
‘NOBODY LOVES YOU’
By Itamar Moses and Gaby Alter, introduced by American Conservatory Theater
By way of: March 30
The place: Toni Rembe Theater, 450 Publish St., San Francisco
Tickets: $25-$130; act-sf.org
