Thumbs Up! Get Your Kicks While You Can with The Performers' Priceless Performances

The Broadway sex farce The Performers may be a two-pump-chump, closing just days after it opened, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t leave completely satisfied. The new play about porn performers and their complicated love lives stars Broadway perennial Cheyenne Jackson as the dumb hunk with a heart of gold, Ari Graynor as his wife and fellow “performer,” Daniel Breaker as a reporter learning the ropes, Alicia Silverstone as an itching-to-be-bad school teacher, Jenni Barber as a big-boobed bimbo and Henry Winkler as the group’s lovable senior statesman. Shakespeare this is not, but you wouldn’t know that based on The Performers’ performances; each actor is fully committed to this raunchy show, so the laughs are loud and plentiful. The standout of the group is budding film star Ari Graynor. As Peeps, the pregnant porn star who is afraid of turning into a MILF, Graynor gives an award-worthy performance that dives beneath the surface of her outlandish exterior. Whether she’s fighting with Barber, romancing Jackson or inspiring Silverstone, Graynor commands the stage. Her performance is so electrifying, it’s hard to take your eyes off her. Cheyenne, you need to alert some of your Tony nominator pals that this is a performance that can't be missed. Don’t miss your opportunity to see Graynor and crew in the blink-and-you'll-miss-it comedy, playing through November 18 at the Longacre Theatre.