PeepLand

PeepLand is truly one of the most remarkable shows on Broadway today. What sets PeepLand apart from all other shows currently playing is its length. Unlike most conventional Broadway productions, PeepLand lasts only five minutes. This is a pleasant relief for those theater-goers who get fidgety during longer more uninteresting productions such as the three and a quarter hour bore, Les Miserables. What is most amazing about PeepLand's length is that the director was able to fit every needed element into such a short show. Peepland's short length allows for as many as two hundred and sixteen performances to be held on a single day. Because house management can become tricky for a production such as this, the house manager, a short Vietnamese man who goes by the name Engineer, invented a clever devise that combines the ancient Grecian machane with the vending machine. Each audience member is given a personal box seat to the performance and can watch it as many times as they desire. The devise closes the curtain every five minutes. If the audience member wishes to watch the show again, they merely insert the cost of a ticket (a low twenty-five cents) into the machine and can resume from where they left off. The twenty-five cent cover makes Peepland the most inexpensive production on Broadway. Using one roll of quarters, this theater critic was able to see the show forty times.

In addition to its use of a machane-like device, PeepLand also borrows from ancient Greek Theater in its very theme. This show is definitely a comedy, modeled after the ancient Phallic Procession ritual that paid honor of the Greek god of fertility and brandy wine, Dionysis. It is a refreshing treat to see the origins of our theater tradition come alive once again on the New York Stage. With PeepLand, director Larry Flynt has succeeded in creating a penetratingly seductive show. I give it two thumbs up.