“If Televisions “The Office” fictional Paper Company Dunder Mifflin Inc. were an Advertising Agency.” That’s the premise “The Team Z” was going for. With a bit of “The Producers” – “An idea that’s so bad, it’s a hit! ”, thrown in for good measure.
However, if you’re signaling the audience you’re cribbing from two outstanding comedy shows out front, you’d better bring your A-game. Though the father and son writing team Jeff and Jacob Foy (Emergency) make a valiant effort with the sheer number of rapid fire comedic setups, punchlines and winks at those pre mentioned legendary comedies, “The Z-team” unfortunately comes up a bit short by comparison.
The story itself has potential and starts pretty straight forward. “Jeff” head of a struggling Advertising agency, finds himself overwhelmed with his most important clients projects, when his spoiled girlfriend “Tiffany” demands he creates a commercial for her “Shark Tank”- clunker of a product (a yoga mat with a blender attachment).
He hatches a scheme to staff it with the worst employee of each department, his “Z-Team”, the most expendable and ineffective employees at his small firm so he has an excuse to fire them all upon the teams assumed failure to cut quarterly losses.
The aforementioned “dirty half dozen” the Z-Team cast includes: Allie Trimm*(13; Wicked; Bye, Bye Birdie), Ze’ev Barmor* (Fiddler on the Roof), Tyler Cruz* (The Betrayal Project), Darby McDonough (Waiting for Wicked), Jakob Martinez Cooper (Spring Awakening), Gabrielle Filloux* (The Office! A Musical Parody), Joe Mucciolo* (Richard III), Drew Starlin* (Rocky: The Musical), Kaelee Albritton* (The Wedding Singer), and Daniel Arana* (This Is Our Youth).
The Z Team has set design by Scott Aronow (The Chekhov Dreams), costume design by Matthew Pachtman (Leopoldstadt; Into the Woods), lighting design by Corey Goulden-Naitove (Beautiful: The Carole King Musical), and sound design by Shannon Slaton (Melissa Etheridge: My Window and The Illusionists). Fuyuan Zheng is the production stage manager and Hannah Marks is the Assistant Stage Manager. Casting is by Michael Cassara, CSA.
Now the cast, though their characters are all one note archetypes for this kind of office comedy, are a mix of able young actors and journeyman veterans that deliver their dialogue and hit their marks with admirable skill and enthusiasm. The comedy writing at times was broad but lacked depth, the snappy patter and jokes are hit and miss throughout but the breezy pace and tight direction of Director Jeff Whiting (Bullets Over Broadway;Big Fish; HAIR) help smooth over rough spots and jokes that don’t land.
There were several sub-plots between characters with clashing personalities, work ethics and of course the typical misunderstandings and complications that office romances always bring to those involved at any workplace. If you’re a big fan of this type of humor? Then the “Z-Team” will definitely be your jam.
Personally, beefing up up the subplots with more truthful, non-comedic dramatic dialogue could have gone a long way. There were glimmers of nuanced feelings and interactions that were opportunities to deepen conversations and invest in the characters more that were cut short to serve the more slap stick aspects of this production, which were unfortunate.
My gut tells me that selling this show as a straight rip-roaring comedy set the bar a bit too high. It could have been more successful, in my humble opinion, as a light-hearted “slice of life” work drama balanced with rom-com elements, seeing that most of the characters were HR nightmares having past or harbored current romantic feelings toward each other and the majority of the underused cast have impressive resumes with considerable straight acting chops. However, I did find “The Z-Team” at the very least to be an entertaining, pleasant diversion, which is the role theatre serves in times we find ourselves in today. Most assuredly a bargain with a general admission price of only $39 is well worth the investment.
The Z Team plays: Tuesdays at 7:00PM, Wednesdays at 7:00PM, Thursdays at 7:00PM, Fridays at 8:00PM, Saturdays at 2:00PM and 8:00PM, and Sundays at 3:00PM.Ticket prices are $39 with premium seating available and can be purchased at: www.ZTeam.show or HERE.
*Denotes Equity Member appearing with permission of Actors’ Equity Association without benefit of an Equity contract in this Off-Off Broadway production. The Z Team is an Equity Approved Showcase.
all art- Theatre Row
