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Philadelphia Theatre Company presents 'Found' (second review)
Dan Rottenberg
As Davy Rothbart tells it, some 15 years ago he was a young misfit in Chicago, working a succession of joyless dead-end jobs. Then one day he serendipitously found a pathetic love note stuck on his car’s windshield, mistakenly intended for someone else.
Recycling the recycling
You or I might have trashed such a missive, but Rothbart was touched by this little slice of humanity that he held in his hands. He began collecting random notes, letters, and photos he found on sidewalks and utility poles, in recycling bins, at bus shelters. Eventually he created Found Magazine as a repository for his collected notes as well as those of like-minded note collectors around the globe.
Rothbart was on to something with his newfound hobby: A recognition that everyone, no matter how obscure or inarticulate, has a story worth telling. But the hard (and potentially much more interesting) work of tracking down those stories was never the purpose of Found magazine.
Nor was it the purpose of the Found books or TV ventures or podcasts that evolved from the magazine. Nor is it the purpose of the latest attempt to milk Rothbart’s endearing little concept for far more than it was ever worth in the first place. I refer to Found, a musical comedy that functions essentially as an advertisement for the magazine and its creator.
Cute and forgettable
Rothbart’s devoted followers may buy into this show’s basic premise, i.e., that Rothbart’s career and product are sources of endless fascination. Others will more likely roll their eyes at this generic 100-minute narrative of a bland young man’s predictable quest for meaningful work and love, set to a rousing if generic and unmemorable score and performed by a young and energetic (albeit also generic) cast. The only distinguishing characteristic about Found is the presence of all those miscellaneous scrawled notes, projected on screens and recited or sung in smarmy tones that announce, “Aren’t we cute?”
Midway through the show, a Hollywood TV producer airily dismisses Davy’s whole concept as “America’s Funniest Home Videos for millennials.” That producer may be the closest thing to a villain that you’ll find in Found, but he knows a gimmick when sees one.
For Toby Zinman's review, click here.
What, When, Where
Found. Book by Hunter Bell and Lee Overtree. Music and lyrics By Eli Bolin. Overtree directed. Based on books and magazines created by Davy Rothbart. Philadelphia Theatre Company. Through December 11, 2016 at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre, 480 S. Broad Street (at Lombard). (215) 985-0420 or philadelphiatheatrecompany.org.
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