The advertising world got turned on its ear this past weekend when the New York premiere of Martin Blank's Avenue of the Americas, produced by Cantwell/Newsom Productions, opened at The Tank Theatre on West 45th Street , where it will be enjoying a three week run.
Blank's one act, which clocks in at around 35 minutes, takes a serio-comic, Durang-esque look at the advertising world through the eyes of Katie White (Laura Yost) a damaged young woman who has been locked up in a mental institution for a large portion of her life, due to a childhood tragedy, with only one avenue that she wishes to pursue: advertising. Katie is unable to think, feel and love. Instead, her mind is consumed by catch phrases and pitches, much like the way the character Chance is consumed by all things television in the film and novella Being There. Doctors try to delve into Katie's past, but their methods prove futile and after one such doctors' not so kind attempt at extracting some straight answers, Katie manages to turn the tables, escape the mental institution and make her way to New York to pursue her dream of working for the Jay Green Agency, a major advertising firm in Manhattan, run by the boozy, but formidable and not to be under-estimated Jay Green (Timothy J. Cox). Katie is hired by Green and she attacks her new role with relish, managing to become a success in her new found field, but her ads, which speak basic truths (the truth has no place in the advertising world) wreak havoc with the public, as well as with Green who discovers that Katie is connected to someone from his past, which may bring about his ruin.

Equal parts comic and dramatic Avenue of the Americas, directed here with considerable skill by Katherine M. Carter, has a lot going on and going for it in its 35 minute run, with Carter managing to create a vivid dream world how Katie sees the world perhaps, where everything is happy, but as the show progresses, we see that the world can be and often is a dark place as well. Carter's production moves at a swift pace, with the help of some jazzy tunes, colorful projections that help move things along and an enjoyable leading turn from Laura Yost as Katie, with Yost bringing a gentle, child like quality to her characterization, but smartly avoiding the trap of making Katie a little TOO cutesy

Where the problem lies is in Martin Blank's script. While Blank does have a solid ear for crisp dialogue, with the right touches of humor and bite, his story seems to get away from him halfway through the proceedings. The first half of the play, which is obviously focused on Katie and even features some of her off the wall commercials, is hysterically funny, thanks largely to actress Virginia Bartholomew, who scored huge laughs in a variety of finely crafted character roles, including a hilarious bit as a child whose cat meets a not-so happy end. Trust me, it's funny. I laughed heartily throughout the first half, as did the entire sold out crowd on Friday night, but in the second half the play shifted gears so dramatically, with the focus delving a little deeper into the downfall of Jay Green, that I thought I was watching a completely different play. I don't object to focusing on Jay as a story choice, as I felt that actor Timothy J. Cox shined bright in the role, showing us at first a big man, all swagger and bravado, but when Katie is about to reveal certain truths about him, Cox's shift to a desperate, pleading and ultimately, small man was actually quite moving, but even as good as he was in the role, I felt Blank's story shift was too sudden and jarring, plus I felt that the script left many important questions affecting Jay's motivations for his later actions unanswered.

As for the other members of the cast, Chris Davis had nice moments as perhaps the plays' most humane character, Phil Scott, a rival businessman to Cox's Green, who lets his businessman's guard down and falls for Katie, but falls deeper when he realizes that he cannot compete with Katie's goal of making it in the advertising world, while Leo Goodman proved less impressive, showing little variety in his plethora of character roles.

At the end of the day, I see Avenue of the Americas as a work in progress a work with some solid parts and a lot of potential, but Martin Blank's one act would benefit greatly from an expansion.

Avenue of the Americas runs at The Tank on West 45th Street until February 6th.