And while there’s plenty to laugh at in both the fictional Fully Committed and its real-life counterparts, there are a select few restaurants in Manhattan that really are just downright amazing and, most important, totally worth the angst-ridden wait. In New York especially, there are the dictatorial chefs, the out-of-work actors serving plates of foam, and the diners-the most hilarious real-life characters of them all-whose urge to taste greatness, or so they think, is insatiable. Written by Becky Mode and directed by Jason Moore ( Pitch Perfect, Avenue Q), Fully Committed offers a satirical look at foodie culture. He also plays the other 39 characters in the script, including a strict head chef the nervous front-of-house staff and, of course, the crazy, craving, desperate callers who are just dying to get a table at any and all cost. And then there’s poor old Dad, recently widowed, who calls from Ohio hoping against hope that Sam will make it to his empty home for Christmas.Jesse Tyler Ferguson’s one-man show Fully Committed officially opens on Broadway at the Lyceum Theatre today, and in it, the Modern Family star plays the central role of Sam, a reservationist at one of New York’s hottest, most-hard-to-get-into restaurants. To rub it in, his agent tells him he just doesn’t have the cojones for the roles he’s been going up for. Hold, Please What Do Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Ben Platt, Bernadette Peters & More Think the Fully Committed Hold Music Sounds Like We asked stars like Bernadette Peters, Ben Platt, Laura. In between the reservation calls, the phone lines also light up with news that Sam’s best frenemy has a callback for a role at Lincoln Center. The playwright has taken care to make him a credible character and give him a plausible life as a would-be actor (that is, if the life of any struggling New York actor could be thought plausible). And when the house phones ring, he also has to deal with the narcissistic chef, the prima donna maitre d’, and other self-important superiors quick to take advantage of his good nature.īut Sam is more than the doofus in a sitcom. (There’s no clear value to the overdressed set, but those ugly pipes are a nice touch.) Down here, in the bowels of the building, Sam goes mano a mano with all those whining, belligerent, and otherwise insufferable patrons demanding royal treatment. Sam (Ferguson), who shares a basement cranny with the building’s plumbing system, is working the phone bank on his own today. Fully Committed Star Jesse Tyler Ferguson Joins Sardis Elite with Portrait. The cuisine at this chic place has also changed from “global fusion” to “molecular gastronomy.” Appetizers now include “frozen polenta with honey mastic,” and main dishes run to “crispy deer lichen atop a slowly deflating, scent-filled pillow dusted with edible dirt.” Becky Modes Fully Committed, Starring Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Extends on Broadway. As is Helen Mirren, whom the chef pronounces “hot.” But Gwyneth Paltrow, who orders a “locally-sourced, no-fat, no-salt, no-dairy, no-sugar, no-chicken, no-meat, no-fish, no-soy, no-rice, no-foam, no-corn tasting menu” for 15 people - is a great substitute. References to once powerful movers and shakers like Sherry Lansing and Naomi Campbell are out. There have been some smart nips and tucks to freshen up the material - although not to the point of acknowledging the existence of the Internet. Without bringing anything special to the role of the beleaguered reservations clerk, Ferguson’s performance should remind the industry why this clever trifle is among the ten most-produced plays in the country. The 1999 play opened Off Broadway with Mark Setlock, who also collaborated in creating the play’s various colorful if unseen characters. Jesse Tyler Ferguson, the star of ABC’s “ Modern Family,” takes his shot at “Fully Committed,” Becky Mode’s tour-de-force-for-solo-actor about the travails of a booking agent on the reservations desk at a trendy Manhattan restaurant.
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