“Brunch, The Musical” gets a bad tip

I used to hear such interesting comments, hilarious asides, invective about cheapskates, morning-after confessions, and brilliant observations in the waiter station during my serving career (back when we could still smoke back there, if that says anything) — I thought it would make a good musical.

I still do, although today’s New York Times review of Brunch, The Musical isn’t very positive about the creation of Rick Kunzi and Adam Barnosky. Reviewer Anita Gates compares the idea of servers telling their unique stories — through song and dance — to that of A Chorus Line, where dancers confess their most personal feelings to the audience through songs.

The difference, Gates writes, is that in A Chorus Line, “dancers were talking about doing something they loved, and the servers, as the wait staff members are unisexually known, are doing something they hate, just to pay the bills.”

“And either there’s nothing of real interest to say about the experience,” notes Gates, “or no one involved is very good at articulating it.”

After having read the full review of this new show, I’d suggest that no one involved with the making of Brunch, The Musical — a repulsive title, I might add — gets restaurant life at all.