Maybe Sunshine

It's an appealing idea, especially now, when the entire planet seems to be run by 22-year-olds: if you're a bit older -- say, 40-something -- do you still have a place in rock 'n' roll, which is, after all, music by and for young people? Is it even possible? Even for a former 'contender'?

The show is about a bottom-level outer boroughs band, made up of oddballs and losers, that seems to be the only thing ex-rock star Hammer has going for her career-wise, and she struggles to hold the band, and herself, together... even though there is absolutely nothing to suggest they are going anywhere.

This is a very well-written show, well-directed, and very well acted by the entire cast, top to bottom. Hammer is particularly strong in the lead, as the middle-aged "everywoman" trying to reclaim her place in the business. She's got a dry, understated quality, and knows how to use stillness for comic effect. She's the center of the hurricane, our identification point, who deals with the clueless young screwballs by just stopping and staring... Funny stuff.

And the show is just bursting with comic ideas, many of them kind of nasty, which makes them even funnier.

To quote something you middle-aged folks will remember: "Try it, you'll like it."